Since the restoration of democracy 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 ...
in 1950, only a comparatively small number of persons have been elected to political office. Although elections are held approximately every three or four years, the small size of the legislative body and the tendency to return incumbent politicians
[For example, ]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) ...
won the 1st District in 11 consecutive elections. Ralph O'Neal
Ralph Telford O'Neal, OBE (15 December 1933 – 11 November 2019) was a British Virgin Islander politician. He was the longest ever serving elected representative in the British Virgin Islands, and served as Chief Minister (when the office was ...
won the 7th/9th District in 10 consecutive elections. The 3rd District has been won by Julian Fraser
Julian Fraser (born 5 July 1950) is a British Virgin Islander politician who formerly belonged to the opposition Virgin Islands Party in the British Virgin Islands, and in August 2018 formed a new party, Progressives United.
He is currently t ...
, his brother Earl, or his cousin Oliver Cills, every year since 1971. In five consecutive elections from 1979 to 1995 just under half the legislature was ever-present: Stoutt, O'Neal, Omar Hodge
Omar Wallace Hodge (2 February 1942 – 20 December 2017) was a politician in the British Virgin Islands. Hodge was the third longest serving member of the House of Assembly (including its former incarnation as the Legislative Council) after Lav ...
and Oliver Cills. has resulted in a relatively small aggregate number.
Prior to the
1967 general election legislators were elected on a non-party basis. However, many persons who were elected in those early elections later went on to form, or stand for,
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
.
In addition to politicians who were elected by popular mandate, various other political positions are filled by appointment. These include:
* The
Governor of the British Virgin Islands
The governor of the Virgin Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The r ...
(
Daniel Pruce
Daniel Pruce (born 1966) is a British career public servant and diplomat who is currently serving as Governor of the Virgin Islands. The oath of office was administered by Justice Angelica Teeluckingh. He was previously, from 2021 to 2022, the ...
since 29 January 2024)
* The
Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands
The Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands is the principal legal adviser to the Government of the British Virgin Islands. Under the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands the Attorney General sits ''ex officio'' in both the House of ...
(
Dawn Smith since 1 October 2020)
* The
Speaker of the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands (
Corine George-Massicote since 26 May 2022)
* Prior to 1967, certain members of the Legislative Council (as the House of Assembly was formerly named) were appointed rather than elected.
List of elected politicians
A total of 68 people have been elected to serve in the Legislature of the British Virgin Islands; 58 were men, and ten were women. Of those 68, twenty seven (39.7%) have only served a single term or less.
Longest serving elected politicians
Twelve people (all men) have served five or more terms in the British Virgin Islands Legislature.
See also
*
List of political parties in the British Virgin Islands
Footnotes
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