2003 British Virgin Islands general election

General election held in the British Virgin Islands

2003 British Virgin Islands general election

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| ← 1999 | 16 June 2003 (2003-06-16) | 2007 →

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13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly
7 seats needed for a majority
Turnout| 72%
|   | First party  | Second party

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|  |
Leader  | Orlando Smith | Ralph T. O'Neal
Party  | NDP | VIP
Leader since  | 1999  | 1995
Leader's seat  | At-large  | 9th District
Last election  | 38.14%, 5 seats  | 36.74%, 7 seats
Seats won  | 8  | 5
Seat change  |  3  |  2
Percentage  | 52.39%  | 42.22%

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| Chief Minister before election

Ralph T. O'Neal
VIP

| Elected Chief Minister

Orlando Smith
NDP

|

General elections were 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.

## Results

[edit]

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).

Party| District| At-large| Total
seats| +/–

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Votes| %| Seats| Votes| %| Seats
| National Democratic Party| 3,390| 46.59| 4| 15,295| 52.39| 4| 8| +3
| Virgin Islands Party| 3,799| 52.21| 5| 12,325| 42.22| 0| 5| –2
| United Party| | 590| 2.02| 0| 0| 0
| Independents| 87| 1.20| 0| 984| 3.37| 0| 0| 0
Speaker and Attorney General| | | 2| 0
Total| 7,276| 100.00| 9| 29,194| 100.00| 4| 15| 0
Valid votes| 7,276| 98.75| | 7,336| 99.80| |
Invalid/blank votes| 92| 1.25| | 15| 0.20| |
Total votes| 7,368| 100.00| | 7,351| 100.00| |
Registered voters/turnout| 10,184| 72.35| | 10,180| 72.21| |
Source: Elections in the Virgin Islands

### District seats

[edit]

1st DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Andrew Fahie| Virgin Islands Party| 558| 71.45
| Archibald Christian| National Democratic Party| 223| 28.55
Total| 781| 100.00
Valid votes| 781| 99.24
Invalid/blank votes| 6| 0.76
Total votes| 787| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,154| 68.20
2nd DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Alvin Christopher| National Democratic Party| 507| 68.79
| Kelvin Thomas| Virgin Islands Party| 230| 31.21
Total| 737| 100.00
Valid votes| 737| 99.33
Invalid/blank votes| 5| 0.67
Total votes| 742| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,105| 67.15
3rd DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Julian Fraser| Virgin Islands Party| 473| 59.27
| Michael Thomas| National Democratic Party| 325| 40.73
Total| 798| 100.00
Valid votes| 798| 99.13
Invalid/blank votes| 7| 0.87
Total votes| 805| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,058| 76.09
4th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Mark Vanterpool| Virgin Islands Party| 511| 60.26
| Audley Maduro| National Democratic Party| 337| 39.74
Total| 848| 100.00
Valid votes| 848| 98.60
Invalid/blank votes| 12| 1.40
Total votes| 860| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,172| 73.38
5th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Delores Christopher| National Democratic Party| 362| 46.53
| Ethlyn Smith| Virgin Islands Party| 359| 46.14
| Alred Frett| Independent| 57| 7.33
Total| 778| 100.00
Valid votes| 778| 97.49
Invalid/blank votes| 20| 2.51
Total votes| 798| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,222| 65.30
6th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Omar Hodge| Virgin Islands Party| 489| 55.89
| Walwyn Brewley| National Democratic Party| 356| 40.69
| Leopold Richardson| Independent| 30| 3.43
Total| 875| 100.00
Valid votes| 875| 98.43
Invalid/blank votes| 14| 1.57
Total votes| 889| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,289| 68.97
7th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Kedrick Pickering| National Democratic Party| 452| 63.22
| Clinton George| Virgin Islands Party| 263| 36.78
Total| 715| 100.00
Valid votes| 715| 99.31
Invalid/blank votes| 5| 0.69
Total votes| 720| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 941| 76.51
8th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Lloyd Black| National Democratic Party| 458| 58.87
| Ray George| Virgin Islands Party| 320| 41.13
Total| 778| 100.00
Valid votes| 778| 98.86
Invalid/blank votes| 9| 1.14
Total votes| 787| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,010| 77.92
9th DistrictCandidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Ralph T. O'Neal| Virgin Islands Party| 596| 61.70
| Hubert O'Neal| National Democratic Party| 370| 38.30
Total| 966| 100.00
Valid votes| 966| 98.57
Invalid/blank votes| 14| 1.43
Total votes| 980| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 1,233| 79.48

### At-large seats

[edit]

Candidate| Party| Votes| %

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| Orlando Smith| National Democratic Party| 4,300| 14.73
| Ronnie W. Skelton| National Democratic Party| 4,165| 14.27
| Eileene Parsons| National Democratic Party| 3,515| 12.04
| Paul P. Wattley| National Democratic Party| 3,315| 11.36
| Reeial George| Virgin Islands Party| 3,274| 11.21
| Irene Penn-O'Neal| Virgin Islands Party| 3,157| 10.81
| Elvis Harrigan| Virgin Islands Party| 3,128| 10.71
| Roy Pickering| Virgin Islands Party| 2,766| 9.47
| Conrad Maduro| BVI United Party| 590| 2.02
| John I. Cline| Independent| 450| 1.54
| Henry Einstein Kettle| Independent| 220| 0.75
| Richard Courtney de Castro| Independent| 172| 0.59
| Eileene E. Baronville| Independent| 142| 0.49
Total| 29,194| 100.00
Valid votes| 7,336| 99.80
Invalid/blank votes| 15| 0.20
Total votes| 7,351| 100.00
Registered voters/turnout| 10,180| 72.21

## References

[edit]

* BVI News online

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