2011 British Virgin Islands general election

none April 2014 April 2014 British Virgin Islands parliamentary 2007 British Virgin Islands general election 2007 yes 2011 11 07 2015 British Virgin Islands general election 2015 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly 7 D. Orlando Smith (cropped).jpg Orlando Smith National Democratic Party (British Virgin Islands) 46.74%, 2 seats 9 7 52.91% Ralph T. O'Neal (cropped).jpg Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 50.31%, 10 seats 4 6 38.34% Premier Premier after election Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party Orlando Smith National Democratic Party (British Virgin Islands) General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 7 November 2011.http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?page=Article&articleID=1316044264 Premier Announces November 7 As General Elections Day 23 September 2011 Platinum News BVI The result was a decisive victory for the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) led by Orlando Smith over the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP), led by Premier Ralph T. O'Neal.http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/news/celebration-begins-for-vanderpool Loud celebration begins in Road Town! Virgin Islands News Online 8 November 2011 No minor parties or independent candidates won any seats. Background The House of Assembly was dissolved on 13 September 2011, by the Governor, Mr William Boyd McCleary, on advice from the Premier. However, the date of the election was not announced until 23 September 2011. Premier Ralph O'Neal confirmed that he would lead his party at the 2011 general election, even though he would turn 78 shortly after the election, and would be 82 at the end of the term of office (if re-elected). Second district representative, Alvin Christopher (who received the highest percentage of votes for a territorial candidate (75.9%) in the 2007 election) announced that he would run for the Virgin Islands Party. Mr Christopher has formerly run for the VIP, the NDP and as an independent candidate. Although the ruling Virgin Islands Party had a huge majority following the 2007 election the intervening years had been characterised by difficult economic times, and a series of natural disasters had hit the Territory damaging its infrastructure. Both of these events led to criticism being directed towards the ruling Government. Results The 2011 general election was largely a complete reversal of the 2007 election. Whereas in 2007 everything seemed to go the way of the VIP, in 2011 every closely contested seat seemed to end up falling to the NDP. The VIP characteristically dominated their safe seats in the First, Second and Third Districts, and the NDP characteristically dominated the At-large seats, sweeping all four. But surprise defeats for the VIP in Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Districts handed victory to the NDP. Former Premier Ralph O'Neal managed to cling on to his seat in the Ninth District, which he had held for 40 years, by just 28 votes. District At-large National Democratic Party 4271 5 18447 4 9 +7 Virgin Islands Party 3864 4 13367 0 4 –6 People's Patriotic Alliance 2266 0 0 New Party of the People 72 0 0 New Independents 657 0 782 0 0 –1 Speaker and Attorney General 2 0 8843 69 85 0 12609 12609 Election Centre District seats One of the bigger surprises was the defeat of Government minister and veteran politician, Omar Hodge, in the 6th district by political newcomer, Alvera Maduro-Caines. Early counts showed incumbent Premier, Ralph O'Neal, trailing his challenger, Hubert O'Neal, in the 9th district, but he eventually overhauled the challenger to retain the seat which he has held since 1975. In the Territorial seats, the highest percentage of votes and greatest margin of victory (nearly 50 points) was Kedrick Pickering in the 7th district. The largest number of individual votes however was Delores Christopher in the 5th district. The lowest percentage of votes by a winning candidate was Marlon Penn (48.1%) in the four way race in the 9th district. The lowest total number of votes by a victorious candidate was Alvin Christopher (423) in the 2nd district. 1st District Andrew Fahie Virgin Islands Party 611 Preston Stoutt Independent 317 6 1384 2nd District Alvin Christopher Virgin Islands Party 423 Claude Skelton-Cline National Democratic Party 324 Leall Rymer Independent 53 Allewine Smith Independent 7 11 1248 3rd District Julian Fraser Virgin Islands Party 613 Kevin Smith National Democratic Party 557 6 1530 4th District Mark Vanterpool National Democratic Party 661 Vincent Scatliffe Virgin Islands Party 209 Collin Scatliffe Independent 95 8 1346 5th District Delores Christopher National Democratic Party 520 Elvis Harrigan Virgin Islands Party 478 8 1521 6th District Alvera Maduro-Caines National Democratic Party 612 Omar Hodge Virgin Islands Party 385 9 1520 7th District Kedrick Pickering National Democratic Party 536 Ronnie Lettsome Virgin Islands Party 157 Allen Wheatley Party of the People 72 9 1158 8th District Marlon Penn National Democratic Party 524 Dancia Penn Virgin Islands Party 423 Bevis Sylvester Independent 112 Nolan Davis Independent 30 8 1404 9th District Ralph T. O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 565 Hubert O'Neal National Democratic Party 537 Lorie Rymer Independent 20 Rheudel Samuel O'Neal Independent 12 Devon Osborne Independent 11 4 1498 Territorial At-Large Seats The results for the at-large seats were as following. The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats. Orlando Smith National Democratic Party 5117 Myron Walwyn National Democratic Party 4619 Ronnie W. Skelton National Democratic Party 4489 Archibald Christian National Democratic Party 4222 Irene Penn-O'Neal Virgin Islands Party 3870 Zoë Walcott-McMillan Virgin Islands Party 3417 Vernon Elroy Malone Virgin Islands Party 3041 Keith L. Flax Virgin Islands Party 3039 Shaina Smith People's Patriotic Alliance 906 Natalio Wheatley People's Patriotic Alliance 798 Bertrand Lettsome Independent 478 Elton Callwood People's Patriotic Alliance 354 Khoy Smith People's Patriotic Alliance 208 Edmund Gregory Maduro Independent 123 Lionel Penn Independent 100 Eileene Baronville Independent 81 8843 85 12609 Orlando Smith, being the leader of the victorious National Democratic Party, was invited by the Governor to form a new Government as the Premier. Aftermath On 9 November 2011 Governor Boyd McCleary officially appointed Orlando Smith as the Premier under section 52(1) the constitution. He became the third person in BVI political history to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and the fourth to win more than one general election as party leader On the same day the first cabinet was sworn in under Orlando Smith. In addition to serving as Premier, Smith was appointed Minister of Finance and Tourism. Kedrick Pickering was appointed Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources and Labour, Myron Walwyn was appointed Minister of Education and Culture, Mark Vanterpool was appointed Minister of Communications and Works and Ronnie Skelton was appointed Minister of Health and Social Development. Sources Virgin Islands News Online - 2011 General Election Platinum News BVI - 2011 General Election https://web.archive.org/web/20111112042908/http://www.bviplatinum.net/ELECTION/2011/ 12 November 2011 References British Virgin Islands General Category:Elections in the British Virgin Islands British Virgin