J. Alvin Christopher, is a politician who presently serves as leader of the People's Empowerment Party in the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

. He is not currently a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, but was the longstanding elected member for the second district, a position which he held from the 1995 general election until the 2015 general election. Alvin Christopher was first elected to office as an independent in 1995. Shortly afterwards he was offered the position of Minister of Communication and Works, and joined the governing

Virgin Islands Party The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is a political party in the British Virgin Islands. It is presently led by Acting Premier Natalio Wheatley. It is the oldest active political party in the British Virgin Islands, and it has won more general elect ...

(VIP). After the 1999 general election he "

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

" to join the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP). In May 2006 Mr Christopher was removed from his position as Minister of Communications and Works by the NDP, and at the next meeting of the legislative council he crossed the floor for a second time to sit once again with the opposition VIP (although not formally joining them as a party). This second move was believed to be related to differences of opinion in relation to the Telecommunications Bill 2006 and

telecoms Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

liberalisation programme in the

generally, although all parties refused to confirm this at the time. Mr Christopher subsequently ran successfully as an independent in the 2007 general election, and was returned with a handsome majority. By the 2011 general election Mr Christopher had formally rejoined the VIP. In March 2014 Mr Christopher announced he was joining a newly formed political party, the People's Empowerment Party (or PEP) as Chairman which he would lead into the 2015 general election, and declared himself "fit" to be

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. In the end the PEP was crushed in the 2015 general election, winning no seats, and Christopher lost his seat in the House. Christopher was philosophical about his defeat, and vowed not to quit politics. Christopher has been linked in the media with the new "Progressives United" party formed by Julian Fraser for a possible run in the 2019 election.

Electoral history

Offices

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20140331103246/http://alvinchristopher.com/ * http://www.bvi.org.uk/government/alvinchristopher {{DEFAULTSORT:Christopher, Alvin British Virgin Islands politicians Living people National Democratic Party (British Virgin Islands) politicians Virgin Islands Party politicians People's Empowerment Party (British Virgin Islands) politicians Year of birth missing (living people)