The People's Empowerment Party (or PEP) is a defunct

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

, led by former

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 A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

member for the second district

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 ...

. Mr Christopher has previously been elected as a representative of the

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 ...

, the National Democratic Party and as an independent. It has no elected representatives and may now be defunct. The party was launched on 29 March 2014. The inaugural executive committee of the party included former People's Patriotic Alliance (PPA) member,

Natalio Wheatley Natalio Dixon Wheatley (born 2 June 1980) is a British Virgin Islands politician currently serving as Premier of the British Virgin Islands. He is the grandson of former Chief Minister, Willard Wheatley. He has at times expressed a preference t ...

(also known as Sowande Uhuru) as president; Elford Parsons, vice-president; Claudette Rymer, secretary; Julia Christopher, assistant secretary; Dennis Rhymer, treasurer; Lorie Rymer, public relations officer; Sunny Prince, sergeant-at-arms; and Glanville Penn, chaplain. Mr Christopher is the chairman and leader of the new party. The introduction of the party to the public included a blistering attack during on the former administration of the Virgin Islands Party, which is the party that a number of the PEP members formerly had ties to. Plans for the new political party were announced in the press in August 2013, although private discussions may have occurred much earlier. Apart from Mr Christopher, only Mr Wheatley and Mr Rymer had previously stood for political office (both unsuccessfully). In the press it was speculated that proposed candidates may include former elected VIP politicians

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 Island ...

and Vernon Malone, but in the event that did not transpire. The party had announced that it intended to contest all 13 seats in the 2015 general election. Eventually the party only put 5 candidates forward, all of whom were handily defeated (including Mr Christopher, who had previously held his seat in the legislature for 20 years). In November 2016 Natalio Wheatley left the PEP to join the

, and the party fielded no candidates in the

2019 British Virgin Islands general election General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 25 February 2019. For the first time, four parties with at least one incumbent member were contesting an election. The result was a decisive victory for the Virgin Islands Party, whic ...

Footnotes

External links

Official website
{{British Virgin Islands political parties Political parties in the British Virgin Islands Political parties established in 2014 2014 establishments in the British Virgin Islands Conservative parties in British Overseas Territories