Snap 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 = Bri ...

on 17 November 1986. The result was a victory for the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by

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 ...

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 ...

over the United Party (UP). Subsequent to the election,

Ralph T. 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 ...

became leader of the opposition despite not being head of the UP. The VIP won five of the nine available seats giving it an absolute majority. Conrad Maduro and Ralph O'Neal were the only members of the UP to win a seat. Maduro only won by a single vote, and O'Neal would change allegiance to the Virgin Islands Party before the next general election. Two candidates running as independents, Walwyn Brewley and former Chief Minister

Cyril Romney Cyril Brandtford Romney (1 March 1931 – 19 July 2007) was a British Virgin Islander politician who served as Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1983 to 1986. He also served as a member of the Legislative Council of the British V ...

, were elected. The election victory would make the start of 17 consecutive years in power for the VIP, which would only end in the 2003 general election. Although Stoutt had lost the previous election, former Chief Minister

had been forced to step down on 1 October 1986 by Governor David Barwick, and so Stoutt had assumed Premiership by virtue of leadership of the largest party in the house prior to the election. Janice George-Creque served as the supervisor of elections. The turnout was 67.5% across the Territory, although this masked regional variations in the individual district seats. Turnout was highest in the 9th District (81.3%) and lowest in the 2nd (60.3%) and 3rd (60.6%) Districts. The 2nd District was decided by a single vote.

Background

Whilst serving as Chief Minister Romney was the 99% owner of a

trust company A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trust ...

called Financial Management Trust, which had been linked with laundering drugs money. Although Romney was not personally implicated in the money laundering scheme, he was serving as Chief Minister at the time, the Legislative Council resolved to debate a no-confidence motion, and Governor Barwick ordered Romney to step down. To preempt the motion, Romney dissolved the Legislative Council and called a general election.

Results

Although Romney himself was returned as the representative for Fifth District, his coalition partners in the United Party were beaten by Lavity Stoutt's Virgin Islands Party. The former coalition won only three seats: Romney himself, Conrad Maduro (and Maduro's victory was by a single vote), and Ralph O'Neal. O'Neal was appointed leader of the opposition, but that role would pass to Maduro when O'Neal later joined the Virgin Islands Party. The defeat of Q.W. Osborne was the end of his political career.

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 Mi ...

also suffered the first defeat of his political career, but would continue in politics.

By district

The winners of the district seats were as follows: First Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 929 :Total number of votes cast: 641 :Percentage of voters who voted: 69.0% Second Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 398 :Total number of votes cast: 241 :Percentage of voters who voted: 60.6% Third Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 740 :Total number of votes cast: 446 :Percentage of voters who voted: 60.3% Fourth Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 801 :Total number of votes cast: 554 :Percentage of voters who voted: 69.2% Fifth Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 693 :Total number of votes cast: 436 :Percentage of voters who voted: 62.9% Sixth Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 688 :Total number of votes cast: 464 :Percentage of voters who voted: 67.4% Seventh Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 456 :Total number of votes cast: 303 :Percentage of voters who voted: 66.4% Eighth Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 521 :Total number of votes cast: 349 :Percentage of voters who voted: 67.0% Ninth Electoral District :Total number of registered voters: 722 :Total number of votes cast: 587 :Percentage of voters who voted: 81.3% IND = Independent
PP = People's Party
UP = BVI United Party
VIP = Virgin Islands Party In the 1st District, Lavity Stoutt secured both the highest number of individual votes, and the highest percentage of the vote of any candidate.

References

{{British Virgin Islands elections

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1986 elections in the Caribbean General election 1986 elections in British Overseas Territories November 1986 events in North America