British Virgin Islands general election, 2019

2018 British Virgin Islands general election

All seats in the British Virgin Islands House of Assembly 7 seats needed for a majority
Leader Myron Walwyn Andrew Fahie Party National Democratic Party Virgin Islands Party Leader since 2018 2017 Leader's seat At-large First District Current seats 11 2
Incumbent Premier Orlando Smith National Democratic Party

The British Virgin Islands
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the British Virgin Islands
Constitution Constitution of the British Virgin Islands
Government Government of the British Virgin Islands Monarch Queen Elizabeth II Governor Augustus Jaspert Deputy Governor V. Inez Archibald Premier Orlando Smith
Executive Cabinet
Legislature House of Assembly Leader of the Opposition Julian Fraser Speaker Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe
Judiciary Judiciary Privy Council Law of the British Virgin Islands
Elections Elections 1950 1954 1957 1960 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1986 1990 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 Political parties NDP PEP VIP Politicians
Citizenship Belonger status British Overseas Territories citizen
Foreign relations Foreign relations of the British Virgin Islands
Other countries Atlas

The British Virgin Islands general election, 2019 is a future election scheduled to be held in the British Virgin Islands during 2019 under the Constitution.

Background

The House of Assembly normally sits in four year terms. The Governor must dissolve the House within four years of the date when the House first meets after a general election unless it has been dissolved sooner.^[1] Once the House is dissolved a general election must be held after at least 21 days, but not more than two months after the dissolution of the House. The third session of the House of Assembly first met on 23 June 2015,^[2] and therefore the latest possible date of the next British Virgin Islands general election would be one day short of four years and two months after that date, i.e. on 22 August 2019. Although there is no minimum period for which the House must sit before being dissolved, unless there is a "snap election" it is unusual for the House to sit for less than three and a half years before being dissolved. One former political candidate has gone on record as "strongly" believing that elections would be called earlier.^[3]

Possible early election

In June 2018 the Premier, Orlando Smith indicated he would be stepping down and not contesting the next general election.^[4] He also hinted that the next general election might be called early.^[5] The ruling National Democratic Party chose Education Minister Myron Walwyn to lead the party into the next election.^[6]

In anticipation of a possible early election, the Virgin Islands Party named a number of its candidates on 16 July 2018.^[7]

Myron Walwyn eligibility issue

In the run up to the election there were repeated suggestions in the press that Myron Walwyn was not eligible for election to the House of Assembly because his parents were from Antigua.^[8][9] Leader of the opposition Virgin Islands Party, Andrew Fahie, distanced himself from questions about Walwyn's eligibility.^[10]

Announced candidates

The VIP announced a number of its proposed candidates for the territorial seats in July 2018,^[11] and September 2018.^[12] The NDP reportedly selected its candidates for the at-large seats in September 2018.^[13] Neither party has released a full list of proposed candidates, but an unconfirmed list of potential NDP candidates was published in the press.^[14]

The names of candidates expressly linked so far with running for particular seats for either of the two main parties are as follows (incumbents marked in bold):

Several incumbent members of the House of Assembly are not indicated to be standing for re-election as a representative of the same party. They include Julian Fraser (left to form his own party^[16]), Mark Vanterpool (undisclosed), Kedrick Pickering (undisclosed), Orlando Smith (retiring), Ronnie Skelton (left to form his own party^[17]) and Archie Christian (retiring).

A number of public figures, the most prominent being Deputy Premier Kedrick Pickering, expressed concern at Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe being held out as a candidate for a political party whilst occupying the position of Speaker of the House.^[18]

New Parties

Both of the two major parties suffered a defection as a result of leadership contests. In the Virgin Islands Party, former leader Julian Fraser announced he would leave the VIP and set up his own party after being defeated, which he called "Progressives United".^[16] Similarly, after coming second in the contest to replace Orlando Smith at the head of the National Democratic Party, Ronnie Skelton similarly left to form his own, as yet unnamed, political party.^[17]

A number of potential candidates have been linked in the media with each party. Former House of Assembly members Alvin Christopher, Vincent Scatliffe, Keith Flax and Vernon Malone have been linked with Fraser. Gerard Farara QC, Kevin "OJ" Smith, sitting 2nd District Representative Melvin "Mitch" Turnbull, Wade Smith and Franklyn Walters have all been linked with Skelton. Dancia Penn QC has been linked in the media with both parties.

No new political party has ever won a general election in the British Virgin Islands since the very first party political general election in 1967.

Footnotes