2007 British Virgin Islands general election

none September 2020 April 2014 British Virgin Islands parliamentary 2003 British Virgin Islands general election 2003 yes 2007 08 20 2011 British Virgin Islands general election 2011 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly 7 Ralph T. O'Neal (cropped).jpg Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 42.22%, 5 seats 10 5 50.31% D. Orlando Smith (cropped).jpg Orlando Smith National Democratic Party (British Virgin Islands) 52.39%, 8 seats 2 6 46.74% Premier Premier after election Orlando Smith National Democratic Party (British Virgin Islands) Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 20 August 2007. The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) over the incumbent National Democratic Party (NDP).http://www.bvi.gov.vg/sites/default/files/resources/2007_general_election_report_reduced.pdf 2007 general election report 9 April 2018 The VIP took 7 of the 9 district seats (of the remaining district seats, only 1 was taking by the NDP; the other was taken by Alvin Christopher, an independent candidate endorsed by the VIP). The VIP also took 3 out of the 4 territorial at-large seats. The only two NDP candidates to retain their seats were former Chief Minister Orlando Smith and seventh district representative Kedrick Pickering. VIP at-large candidate Zoë McMillan-Walcott had initially asked for a recount of her vote against Orlando Smith for the fourth at-large seat (the initial count indicated her to have received only 18 fewer votes), but she subsequently withdrew the request. The victory gave the VIP an unprecedented 10 elected seats out of the 13 available in the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, despite receiving only a mere 5.6% greater share of the votes than the NDP (45.2% to 39.6%). Voter turnout was relatively high, with approximately 62.3% of registered voters casting votes; although this was some way lower than the 72.2% voter turnout for the 2003 election.A number of registered voters live and work abroad, and in the British Virgin Islands no postal or proxy voting is permitted, so the figure is unusually high by comparative standards. The lowest turnout was in the fifth district, where only 49.3% of voters cast votes; the highest was the eighth district, where 76.2% turnout was recorded. The Supervisor of elections reported that the elections passed off "without incident". Results Because of the NDP's high dependence upon At-large seats, a relatively small shift in voter sentiment turned a defeat into a massacre. After winning all four At-large seats in the previous election, in 2007 the NDP could barely cling onto one with Orlando Smith eclipsing Zoë Walcott-McMillan by just 18 votes out of a total of ballots cast. Dr Smith's election was the only thing that went right for the NDP on election day, with seemingly every other close race falling into the laps of the VIP, in each case snatching close victories in the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Districts. A variety of circumstances combined to convert the VIP's 45.2% of the electoral votes into 84.6% (11 out of 13) of the available seats once Alvin Christopher (who won as an independent) formally decided to rejoin his former party. District At-large Virgin Islands Party 3838 7 14477 3 10 +5 National Democratic Party 2563 1 13449 1 2 –6 Independents 892 1 850 0 1 +1 Speaker and Attorney General 2 0 7343 136 69 0 11175 11175 Election Centre District seats The closest races were in the fourth district (where only 27 votes separated the candidates), the fifth district (23 votes separated the leading candidates, and 87 votes went to independent candidates) and the ninth where a mere 9 votes separated the candidates (46 votes having gone to the independent candidate) and a recount was conducted. Alvin Christopher received the highest percentage of votes for a territorial candidate (75.9%), whilst Andrew Fahie received the highest number of total votes. Hubert O'Neal had the unhappy distinction of having the highest number of votes (467 votes, higher than 5 successful candidates) and the highest percentage of the vote (46.9%) for a losing territorial candidate. Elvis "Jughead" Harrigan had the lowest number of votes (309) and percentage of vote (44.7%) for any successful territorial candidate.However, the fifth district also had the highest number of candidates (four) and the lowest turnout (49.3%). 1st District Andrew Fahie Virgin Islands Party 611 Archibald Christian National Democratic Party 205 9 1277 2nd District Alvin Christopher Independent 484 Gerald Chinnery National Democratic Party 139 15 1143 3rd District Julian Fraser Virgin Islands Party 590 Alwon Smith National Democratic Party 245 12 1235 4th District Vincent Scatliffe Virgin Islands Party 400 Audley Maduro National Democratic Party 373 Courtney de Castro Independent 15 10 1226 5th District Elvis Jerome Harrigan Virgin Islands Party 422 Delores Christopher National Democratic Party 394 Lesmore Smith Independent 56 Nona Vanterpool Independent 31 5 1403 6th District Omar Hodge Virgin Islands Party 588 E. Walwyn Brewley Independent 252 33 1363 7th District Kedrick Pickering National Democratic Party 351 Ronnie Lettsome Virgin Islands Party 298 16 1025 8th District Dancia Penn Virgin Islands Party 453 Lloyd Black National Democratic Party 389 Douglas D. Wheatley Independent 8 14 1125 9th District Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 476 Hubert O'Neal National Democratic Party 467 Devon Osborne Independent 46 22 1378 Territorial At-Large Seats The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats. Irene Penn-O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 3721 Vernon Elroy Malone Virgin Islands Party 3626 Keith L. Flax Virgin Islands Party 3599 Orlando Smith National Democratic Party 3549 Zoe Walcott-McMillan Virgin Islands Party 3531 Elmore Stoutt National Democratic Party 3433 Ronnie W. Skelton National Democratic Party 3404 Mark Vanterpool National Democratic Party 3063 Alred Frett Independent 326 Quincy Lettsome Independent 250 Ulric Scatliffe Independent 174 Eileene E. Baronville Independent 100 7343 69 11175 Aftermath On 22 August 2007, the Governor, Mr David Pearey officially appointed Ralph O'Neal as the first Premier (as the position of Chief Minister will be called) under section 52(1) the new constitution. He became only the second person in BVI political history (after Lavity Stoutt) to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and only the third (Lavity Stoutt and Willard Wheatley) to win more than one general election as party leader (both since matched by Orlando Smith). Both were considered remarkable achievements for a politician who was written off by some as a "spent force" after he lost the previous election at the age of 69. Despite questions over how long Ralph O'Neal expects to serve as Premier, starting his term at the age of 73, he served the full term. Rumours abounded prior to the election that a backroom deal may have been struck with Dancia Penn that she would take over the premiership when he stepped down, mid-term; a move that may presumably cause some internal consternation in the party. Those rumours were further fuelled when Dancia Penn was appointed as Deputy Premier shortly after the election. On 23 August 2007 the first cabinet was sworn in under Ralph O'Neal. In addition to serving as the Territory's first Premier Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal was appointed Minister of Finance and Tourism. Honourable Andrew Fahie was appointed Minister of Education and Culture Honourable Julian Fraser was appointed Minister of Communications and Works Honourable Omar Hodge was appointed Minister of Natural Resources and Labour Honourable Dancia Penn, OBE, QC was appointed Minister of Health and Social Development. Sources: Platinum news; Government Press Release 323R/07 References BVI Platinum BVI News online External links Columnist comment on the election in The Standpoint https://web.archive.org/web/20070929011200/http://www.vistandpoint.com/content/view/49/33/ 29 September 2007 British Virgin General election Category:Elections in the British Virgin Islands British Virgin British Virgin