General elections were held 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 ...

on 2 June 1971. The result was a victory for a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

of the

VI Democratic Party The VI Democratic Party (VIDP or DP) is a nodefunctpolitical party of the British Virgin Islands. It was originally formed by Dr Q. William Osborne during the first session of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands under the ne ...

(DP) together with independent candidate

Willard Wheatley Willard Wheatley MBE (16 July 1915 – 22 January 1997) was a British Virgin Islands educator and politician who served two consecutive terms as the Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1971 to 1979. He was the second ever Chief Min ...

over the newly formed

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) led by former Chief Minister

Lavity Stoutt Hamilton Lavity Stoutt (7 March 1929 – 14 May 1995) was a British Virgin Islander politician and the first and longest serving Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands. He won five general elections (1967, 1979, 1986, 1991 and 1995) ...

, and incumbent BVI United Party (UP) led by

Conrad Maduro Conrad Antonio Maduro is a British Virgin Islander politician and longtime leader of the United Party. Remarkably, Conrad Maduro has led his party to victory at three different general elections, but has never been appointed Chief Minister. * ...

. Prior to the election Stoutt had was serving as Chief Minister and leader of the UP, but due to internal divisions Stoutt left and formed his new party to contest the election against the UP and the DP, but ended up losing and being replaced by Wheatley as Chief Minister. The election was also notable for the first female candidate in a British Virgin Islands election: Millicent Mercer contested the 5th District on behalf of the VIP, but lost to Conrad Maduro. In the 7th District the former representative, Robinson O'Neal, had died in a car crash the prior year.

Results

By constituency

Appointments

Following the election: *Willard Wheatley was appointed Chief Minister and Minister for Education *Oliver Cills was appointed Minister for Communications, Works and Industry *Q.W. Osborne was appointed Minister for Natural Resources and Public Health *Lavity Stoutt became the Leader of the Opposition

References

Elections in the British Virgin Islands British Virgin

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

June 1971 events in North America British Virgin Election and referendum articles with incomplete results {{caribbean-election-stub