1979 British Virgin Islands general election

The British Virgin Islands general election, 1979 was held in the British Virgin Islands on 12 November 1979. The result was a victory for the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by former Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt over the incumbent United Party (UP) led by Willard Wheatley. The a newly formed party, the Virgin Islands National Movement (VINM), led by Elvin Stoutt, also contested the election but did not win any seats.

British Virgin Islands general election, 1979

12 November 1979 (1979-11-12)
All seats in the British Virgin Islands Legislative Council 5 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.8%
First party Second party Third party   Leader H.L. Stoutt W. Wheatley Q.W. Osborne Party Virgin Islands Party BVI United Party VI Democratic Party Leader since 1971 1975 1967 Leader's seat 1st District 7th District 7th District Seats won 5 1 0 Popular vote 733 178 199 Percentage 27.8% 6.7% 4.9%   Fourth party   Leader Elvin Stoutt Party Virgin Islands National Movement Leader since 1979 Leader's seat 1st District Seats won 0 Popular vote 605 Percentage 22.9%
Chief Minister before election Willard Wheatley BVI United Party (Coalition) Elected Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt Virgin Islands Party

The supervisor of elections was Trevor A.F. Peters.[1] The turnout was 74.8%.

The 1979 general election was the first election to be conducted after the Legislative had been expanded to nine elected seats (from the previous seven). Astonishingly, fully one third of the seats up for election were not contested, with only a single candidate standing in the 3rd, 7th and 8th Districts. For the 3rd District, this was the second consecutive general election where the seat was uncontested.

The Virgin Islands Party won the election despite receiving only 733 votes in aggregate across all seats, and just 27.8% of the vote. This low figure in part was caused by the high number of uncontested seats, but also reflected significant voter disenchantment with the political process.

Background

By 1979 internal fighting had severely limited the capability of almost every political party in the British Virgin Islands. After internal fighting, the VI Democratic Party (VIDP) was left with just one candidate: its founder, Q.W. Osborne. The United Party fared little better: it was able to field two candidates. Neither party would win a contested seat, although Willard Wheatley would win the 7th District by default for the United Party as he was unopposed. The newly created Virgin Islands National Movement fielded the second most candidates with three, and even the Virgin Islands Party could only muster four.

The fact that three seats were not even contested suggests growing disenchantment with the political process at the time.

Results

British Virgin Islands general election, 1979[2]

Party	Votes	Percentage	Seats Won
United Party	178	6.7%	1
Virgin Islands Party	733	27.8%	4
Virgin Islands National Movement	605	22.9%	0
VI Democratic Party	199	4.5%	0
Independents	1,004	38.0%	4
Total	2,639	100%	9
Turnout: 74.8%

The Virgin Islands Party won all four of its seats, giving it a plurality of seats, with four. But this was still a long way short of being able to form a government. So they moved to secure the loyalty of Oliver Cills (who had previously been a member of the Virgin Islands Democratic Party), thereby giving them a majority with which to form a government.

The victory of the Virgin Islands Party with just 733 votes and a 27.8% share of the vote are both record lows for a general election in the British Virgin Islands. The much higher percentage of votes for independent candidates (1,004 and 38.0%) and the number of seats which were not even contested indicates a general level of disenchantment by the voters with both the established political parties and possibly elections in general.

Notable candidates who were elected for the first time included future Chief Minister, Cyril Romney, and future Minister, Omar Hodge, who would hold his seat for the next 32 years (the third longest such span in British Virgin Islands politics).

The defeat of Q.W. Osborne in the 5th District signalled the end of the VI Democratic Party. Following the election, the United Party was the only party left in existence from the 1967 general election.

Individual seats

British Virgin Islands general election, 1979[3]
Individual seats

Constituency	Candidates	Votes	Percentage	Winner	Party
1st District Turnout: 77.6%	H. Lavity Stoutt (VIP)	328	55.2%	H. Lavity Stoutt	Virgin Islands Party
	Elvin O. Stoutt (VINM)	256	43.1%
	Rejected	10	1.7%
	Total	594	100%
2nd District Turnout: 67.0%	Prince Stoutt (VIP)	139	57.0%	Prince Stoutt	Virgin Islands Party
	Edison O'Neal (VINM)	103	42.2%
	Rejected	2	0.8%
	Total	244	100%
3rd District	Oliver Cills (VIP)	Uncontested		Oliver Cills	Virgin Islands Party*
4th District Turnout: 70.8%	Alban Ulric Anthony (VIP)	266	50.0%	Alban Ulric Anthony	Virgin Islands Party
	Reynold O'Neal (VINM)	246	46.2%
	Carlton deCastro (Ind)	13	2.4%
	Rejected	7	1.3%
	Total	532	100%
5th District Turnout: 74.1%	Cyril Romney (Ind)	222	64.5%	Cyril Romney	Independent
	Q.W. Osborne (VIDP)	119	34.6%
	Rejected	3	0.9%
	Total	344	100%
6th District Turnout: 68.9%	Omar Hodge (Ind)	197	52.0%	Omar Hodge	Independent
	Conrad Antonio Maduro	178	47.0%
	Rejected	4	1.0%
	Total	379	100%
7th District	Terrance B. Lettsome (VIP)	Uncontested		Terrance B. Lettsome	Virgin Islands Party*
8th District	Willard Wheatley (UP)	Uncontested		Willard Wheatley	United Party*
9th District Turnout: 85.5%	Ralph T. O'Neal (Ind)	403	59.6%	Ralph T. O'Neal	Independent
	Reeial George (Ind)	169	25.0%
	Rejected	6	0.9%
	Total	676	100%
* Candidates in uncontested seats were not required to declare parties for the purposes of the election. They are recorded on the basis of the parties that they sat with during the Legislative sessions following the election.

Footnotes

1. "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
2. "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. pp. 84–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
3. "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. pp. 84–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.