British Virgin Islands general election, 2003

British Virgin Islands general election, 2003
British Virgin Islands
16 June 2003 (2003-06-16)
All seats in the British Virgin Islands House of Assembly
7 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 72%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Orlando Smith Ralph T. O'Neal
Party National Democratic Party Virgin Islands Party
Leader since 1999 1995
Leader's seat At-large 9th District
Last election 5 seats, 37.3% 7 seats, 37.8%
Seats before 5 7
Seats won 8 5
Seat change +3 -2
Percentage 52.4% 42.2%
Swing +15.1% +4.4%
Chief Minister before election

Ralph T. O'Neal
Virgin Islands Party

 Elected Chief Minister

Orlando Smith
National Democratic Party

The 2003 general election was held in the British Virgin Islands on 16 June 2003. It was won by the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP), which took 54.4% of the vote and 8 of the 13 available seats on the Legislative Council. After the election the NDP formed a Government for the first time in its history. Both major parties - the NDP and the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) actually increased their share of the overall vote at the expense of minority parties and independents. No independents or any minority parties won any seats. The NDP won all four of the territorial-at-large seats.

The 2003 general election was also the first election in the British Virgin Islands where the United Party failed to field a candidate.

Results

The NDP's victory was largely as a result of sweeping all four of the At-large seats. However, with each voter being able to cast four votes per ballot, the margin between the bottom NDP candidate (Paul Wattley) and the top VIP candidate (Reeial George) was a mere 41 votes, out of a total of 7,351 ballots cast (a margin of 0.5%). The other key win for the NDP was in the Fifth District where Delores Christopher carried the seat for the NDP by a wafer thin margin of just 3 votes in a constituency where a total of 20 ballots were rejected by elections officers.

Voters exercised a largely binary choice between the two main parties. No third party candidate or independent polled well in any area. In the Territorial seats, Alred Frett in the Fifth District was the highest vote-getter, with a mere 7.1% of the votes. In the At-large seats, the top eight spots went to the four candidates for each of the two main parties, with a massive drop off in numbers of votes for the ninth place candidate (Conrad Maduro, a former elected representative on the United Party ticket, but running in 2003 as an independent).

 Summary of the 16 June 2003 Br. Virgin Islands Legislative Council election results
Parties Votes % Seats
National Democratic Party   52.4 8
Virgin Islands Party   42.2 5
Speaker and Attorney General 2
Total (turnout 72 %)   15
Source: Electionguide.org

Individual territorial seats

First Electoral District

Candidate Carrot Bay Zion Hill Total Percentage
Andrew FAHIE (VIP) 237 321 558 70.9%
Archibald CHRISTIAN (NDP) 51 172 223 28.3%
REJECTED 1 5 6 0.8%
Total number of registered voters: 1,154
Total number of votes cast: 787
Percentage of voters who voted: 68.2%

Second Electoral District

Candidate Meyers Jost Van Dyke Brewers Bay Cane Garden Bay Total Percentage
Alvin CHRISTOPHER (NDP) 146 85 91 185 507 68.3%
Kelvin THOMAS (VIP) 114 13 18 85 230 31.0%
REJECTED 2 0 0 3 5 0.7%
Total number of registered voters: 1,105
Total number of votes cast: 742
Percentage of voters who voted: 67.0%

Third Electoral District

Candidates Sea Cows Bay Total Percentage
Julian FRASER (VIP) 473 473 58.8%
Michael THOMAS (NDP) 325 325 40.4%
REJECTED 7 7 0.9%
Total number of registered voters: 1,058
Total number of votes cast: 805
Percentage of voters who voted: 76.1%

Fourth Electoral District

Candidates Road Town Salt Island Total Percentage
Mark VANTERPOOL (VIP) 509 2 511 59.0%
Audley MADURO (NDP) 336 1 337 39%
REJECTED 12 0 12 2%
Total number of registered voters: 1,172
Total number of votes cast: 860
Percentage of voters who voted: 73.4%

Fifth Electoral District

Candidates Long Trench Huntum's Ghut Total Percentage
Delores CHRISTOPHER (NDP) 112 250 362 45.3%
Ethlyn SMITH (VIP) 75 284 359 45.0%
Alred Frett (IND) 14 43 57 7.1%
REJECTED 5 15 20 2.5%
Total number of registered voters: 1,222
Total number of votes cast: 798
Percentage of voters who voted: 65.3%

Sixth Electoral District

Candidates Belle Vue Baughers Bay Total Percentage
Omar HODGE (VIP) 73 416 489 55%
Walwyn BREWLEY (NDP) 70 286 356 40%
Leopold RICHARDSON (IND) 4 26 30 3%
REJECTED 2 12 14 2%
Total number of registered voters: 1,289
Total number of votes cast: 889
Percentage of voters who voted: 69%

Seventh Electoral District

Candidates Long Look Total Percentage
Kedrick PICKERING (NDP) 452 452 62.8%
Clinton George (VIP) 263 263 36.5%
REJECTED 5 5 0.7%
Total number of registered voters: 941
Total number of votes cast: 720
Percentage of voters who voted: 76.5%

Eighth Electoral District

Candidates Hope Estate East End Total Percentage
Lloyd BLACK (NDP) 13 445 458 58.2%
Ray George (VIP) 24 296 320 40.7%
REJECTED 0 9 9 1.1%
Total number of registered voters: 1,010
Total number of votes cast: 787
Percentage of voters who voted: 77.9%

Ninth Electoral District

Candidates The Valley North Sound Anegada Total Percentage
Ralph T. O'NEAL (VIP) 390 173 33 596 60.8%
Hubert O'NEAL 260 60 50 370 37.8%
REJECTED 9 5 0 14 1.4%
Total number of registered voters: 1,233
Total number of votes cast: 980
Percentage of voters who voted: 79.5%

At-large seats

Territorial At-Large Electoral District

Position Name Affiliation Total Percentage
1 SMITH, D. Orlando NDP 4300 14.72%
2 SKELTON, Ronnie W. NDP 4165 14.26%
3 PARSONS, Eileene Lucia NDP 3515 12.03%
4 WATTLEY, Paul P. NDP 3315 11.35%
5 GEORGE, Reeial VIP 3274 11.21%
6 PENN-O'NEAL, Irene VIP 3157 10.81%
7 HARRIGAN, Elvis VIP 3128 10.71%
8 PICKERING, Roy VIP 2766 9.47%
9 MADURO, Conrad IND 590 2.02%
10 CLINE, John I. IND 450 1.54%
11 KETTLE, Henry Einstein IND 220 0.75%
12 DE CASTRO, Richard Courtney IND 172 0.59%
13 BARONVILLE, Eilieene E. IND 142 0.49%
Total ballots cast: 7,351
Total rejected ballots: 15
Total votes rejected: 14
Total valid votes: 29,194
Total votes counted: 29,208
Total registered voters: 10,180
Percentage turnout: 72.21%
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