British Virgin Islands General Election, 1975
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

General elections were held in the
British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...
on 1 September 1975. The result was one of the most confused in the Territory's history, but is officially recorded as a victory for the United Party led by
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 ...
over the opposition
Virgin Islands Party The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is a List of political parties in the British Virgin Islands, political party in the British Virgin Islands. It is presently led by Natalio Wheatley. It is the oldest active political party in the British Virgin I ...
(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, 1990 and 1995) ...
. In reality the election provided no clear consensus, and when the election was over, successful candidates dropped their prior allegiances and tried to broker deals that would enable them to secure power. At the end of this process Willard Wheatley retained his role as Chief Minister and led a coalition loosely affiliated to the United Party. But as has been recorded: "The 1975 General Elections did not produce a clear majority for any party and the loyalties, which appeared to have existed prior to and in the course of the election campaign, fell apart in the aftermath. Mr. W.W. Wheatly again emerged as Chief Minister, but with a different team."


Background

The 1975 general election was something of a dangerous crossroad for British Virgin Islands politics. The first party political election in 1967 had been won by the United Party. However, internal struggles relating to who should be leader led to the party fragmenting before the next election. That allowed the opposition
VI Democratic Party The VI Democratic Party (VIDP or DP) was a political 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 new cons ...
to win the 1971 election, but exactly the same thing happened to them: disagreements between party leader Q.W. Osborne and Chief Minister Willard Wheatley led Wheatley to remove Osborne from his Ministerial seat. The resulting discord meant that, despite technically being the party in power, the VI Democratic Party did not actually promote any candidates at all for the 1975 electionOliver Cills, a former VIDP member, ran unopposed and therefore was not required to declare party. - Wheatley left to form an alliance with the United Party, and Osborne left to join the Virgin Islands Party.


Results

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 ...
won the election in a coalition with the United Party. Although the United Party only won two seats, fewer than the Virgin Islands Party (which won three), Wheatley was able to assemble a coalition and remain Chief Minister and at the head of government. Austin Henley was a former member of the VI Democratic Party, but ran as a United Party candidate. However, after the election he was named
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
. Henley later died in office, and Oliver Cills continued as Leader of the Opposition. Both Henley and Cills were recorded as members of the VI Democratic Party whilst Leaders of the Opposition. Candidates elected for the first time included future Chief Minister and Premier, Ralph T. O'Neal.


By constituency

Oliver Cills was elected unopposed in the 3rd District.


Footnotes

{{British Virgin Islands elections Elections in the British Virgin Islands British Virgin
General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
British Virgin 1975 elections in the British Empire