The VI Democratic Party (VIDP or DP) was a

political party 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 political ideology, ...

of 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 ...

. It was originally formed by Dr Q. William Osborne during the first session of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands under the new constitution in 1967 subsequent to the general election on 14 April 1967. After the election Dr Osborne was the Territory's first leader of the opposition in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. The VI Democratic Party only once held power in the Territory. After the 1971 general election it formed a coalition government with independent candidate Willard Wheatley, with Wheatley acting as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. However, disagreements arose between Wheatley and Osborne, and Wheatley ended up removing Osborne from his Ministerial post. For the 1975 general election Wheatley abandoned his former coalition partners and ran successfully with the United Party, and Osborne also abandoned the party to run for the

Virgin Islands Party The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is a List of political parties in the British Virgin Islands, political party in the British Virgin Islands. It is presently led by Natalio Wheatley. It is the oldest active political party in the British Virgin I ...

. The last election in which the VI Democratic Party contested was the 1979 general election, when Dr Osborne ran as a sole candidate in the 5th District, but was defeated by Cyril Romney.

Electoral results

References

Footnotes

Political parties in the British Virgin Islands Political parties established in 1967 1967 establishments in the British Virgin Islands {{caribbean-party-stub