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 20 August 2007. The result was a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

for the opposition

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) over the incumbent National Democratic Party (NDP). 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 J. Alvin Christopher, is a politician who presently serves as leader of the People's Empowerment Party in the British Virgin Islands. He is not currently a member of the House of Assembly, but was the longstanding elected member for the second d ...

, 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 A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Orlando Smith Daniel Orlando Smith, OBE (born 28 August 1944) is a British Virgin Islands politician and the former Premier of the British Virgin Islands from 2011 to 2019 and from 2003 to 2007. He also formerly served as Chief Minister of the British Vir ...

and seventh district representative

Kedrick Pickering Dr. Kedrick Pickering (born 8 April 1958) is the former Deputy Premier of the Virgin Islands, also known as the British Virgin Islands. He also served as the territory's Minister of Natural Resources and Labour. He is a member of the National D ...

. 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 reques

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 The House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, until 2007 known as the Legislative Council, has 15 members: 13 directly elected for four-year terms (nine in single-seat constituencies and four "at large"), and two ''ex officio'' members ...

, 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. 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 seats

The results of the voting for the district seats was as follows: Winning candidates are highlighted in blue. Previously incumbent candidates are marked in bold. * First electoral district Total number of registered voters: 1,277
Total number of votes cast: 825 (64.6% turnout) * Second Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,143
Total number of votes cast: 638 (55.9% turnout) * Third Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,235
Total number of votes cast: 847 (68.6% turnout) * Fourth Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,226
Total number of votes cast: 798 (65.1% turnout) * Fifth Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,403
Total number of votes cast: 908 (64.7% turnout) * Sixth Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,363
Total number of votes cast: 873 (64.0% turnout) * Seventh Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,025
Total number of votes cast: 665 (64.9% turnout) * Eighth Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,125
Total number of votes cast: 864 (76.8% turnout) * Ninth Electoral District Total number of registered voters: 1,378
Total number of votes cast: 1,011 (73.4% turnout)
The ninth electoral district was the only district to undergo a recount. (IND) = Independent candidate
(IPM) = Independent People's Movement
(NDP) = National Democratic Party candidate
(VIP) =

candidate 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%).

Territorial At-Large Seats

The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats. (IND) = Independent candidate
(IPM) = Independent People's Movement
(NDP) = National Democratic Party candidate
(VIP) =

candidate

Aftermath

On 22 August 2007, the Governor, Mr

David Pearey David Pearey (born 15 July 1948) was the Governor of the British Virgin Islands, Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 18 April 2006 to 5 August 2010. He was appointed by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II on the advi ...

officially appointed

Ralph O'Neal Ralph Telford O'Neal, OBE (15 December 1933 – 11 November 2019) was a British Virgin Islander politician. He was the longest ever serving elected representative in the British Virgin Islands, and served as Chief Minister (when the office was ...

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 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) ...

) to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and only the third (Lavity Stoutt and

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 ...

) 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 Ruth Dancia Penn, (born 1951) is a British Virgin Islands politician and former Deputy Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 20 September 2004 to 1 April 2007. She also formerly served as the Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands ...

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''
{{British Virgin Islands elections 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 ( ...

Elections in the British Virgin Islands 2007 elections in British Overseas Territories August 2007 events in North America