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Politics of the British Virgin Islands
Politics of the British Virgin Islands
Main office holders Office Queen Governor Premier Name Elizabeth II David Pearey Ralph T. O’Neal VIP Party Since 6 February 1952 2006 20 August 2007
British Virgin Islands
Military defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom. A new constitution was made in 2007 (the Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007) and came into force after the Legislative Council was dissolved for the 2007 general election.
Executive branch
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of the British Virgin Islands • Governor • David Pearey • Premier • Ralph T. O’Neal • House of Assembly • Political parties • Elections: 1999, 2003, 2007 • Districts • Law
Other countries
The Governor is appointed by the Monarch. The Premier (formerly Chief Minister) is appointed by the Governor from among the members of the Legislative Council, and is by parliamentary convention the leader of the party holding the largest number of seats. The cabinet, the Executive Council, is appointed by the Governor from among the elected members of the Legislative Council.
Legislative branch
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Politics of the British Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Premier is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The British Virgin Islands are an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The Constitution of the Islands was introduced in 1971 and amended in 1979, 1982, 1991, 1994, 2000 and 2007. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Legislative Council. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Legislative Council building in Road Town. The High Court sits upstairs. The British Virgin Islands elects on territorial level a legislature. The House of Assembly (formerly Legislative Council) has 15 members, 13 members elected for a four year term, 9 of them in single-seat constituencies
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and 4 at large, one ex officio member and one speaker chosen from outside the council. See also: Districts of the British Virgin Islands
Politics of the British Virgin Islands
Political parties and elections
Summary of the 20 August 2007 Legislative assembly election results Parties Virgin Islands Party National Democratic Party Independents Speaker and Attorney General Total (turnout 62.3%) Votes* 18,052 15,836 6,063 %age Seats 45.2% 10 39.6% 2 15.2% 1 2 39,951 100% 15
"At large" seats
The 4 at large seats are a comparatively recent innovation in British Virgin Islands politics. They were introduced under some pressure from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the mid-1990s. The rationale behind their introduction was that there was a risk that constituency seats can become too closely tied to a particular local figure, and that if a certain number of local figures join the same political party, then the voters have no real choice in selection of their government. Under the proposals any person in the Territory could stand as an at large candidate, and each voter would have four at large votes in addition to their constituency vote. The four at large candidates who received the highest total number of votes would be elected to the Legislative Council. The proposals were strongly opposed by Lavity Stoutt, the Chief Minister of the day; he arranged for the entire Territory to be polled to ascertain how the voters felt about new rules being "foisted" upon them by the FCO in London,[1] and then later flew to London with an entire delegation (including the Attorney General) to try and dissuade them. Despite this opposition the at large seats were introduced. Although Lavity Stoutt died prior to the first election with at large seats in 1998, his fears proved to be well founded; his Virgin Islands Party was returned to power under the leadership of Ralph T. O’Neal in 1998, but with a much reduced majority. In the next election in 2002, the Virgin Islands was swept from power by the National Democratic Party led by Orlando Smith. In both the 1998 and 2002 elections Orlando Smith stood as an at large candidate and received the highest number of votes of any candidate.
* Each voter has 4 votes; 1 district vote and 4 territorial "at-large" votes Source: BVI Platinum News
Judicial branch
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, consists of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal (one judge of the Supreme Court is a resident of the islands and presides over the High Court). Furthermore there is a Magistrate’s Court; Juvenile Court; and a Court of Summary Jurisdiction.
International organization participation
Caricom (associate), CDB, ECLAC (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, OECS (associate), UNESCO (associate)
Footnotes
[1] The results of the poll were largely inconclusive. Voters were asked if they would prefer (i) to have at large seats introduced, (ii) prefer not to have at large seats introduced, or (iii) no preference. The votes were almost equally split into thirds, but the largest proportion of the votes was in favour of introducing at large seats. Nonetheless, Lavity Stoutt cited the poll as an indication that over half the population either did not want change, or had no
List of Members
2007-present danny cordero 7
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Name Ralph T. O’Neal OBE Party Member of First elected VIP Title
Politics of the British Virgin Islands
Previous Roles Constiuency Chief Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Social Services Council Member for the Ninth District
Government 1977-present Leader and Premier
Dancia Penn OBE, QC, LLB, BA
VIP
Government 2007-present Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Social Development
Court of Appeal Member for Judge (Acting), the Eighth Deputy District Governor and Attorney General Council Member (Territorial At-Large) Council Member for the Second District
Keith Lancelot Flax
VIP
Government 1983, Deputy Speaker Speaker of the 2007-present of the Council Council
J. Alvin VIP Christopher
Government 1995-present Government Backbencher
Minister for Natural Resources and Labour and Minister for Communications and Works
Andrew A. Fahie
VIP
Government 1999-present Minister of Edu- Minister for Council cation and Education, Cul- Member for Culture ture and Youth First District Affairs and Parliament Private Secretary Government 1999-present Minister of Deputy Chief Communications Minister and and Works Minister for Communications and Works and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Government 2007-present Government Backbencher Council Member for the Third District
Julian Fraser RA
VIP
Dr Vincent VIP G. Scatliffe RA, RN Elvis J. Harrigan VIP
Council Member for the Forth District Council Member for the Fifth District
Government 2007-present Government Backbencher
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Omar W. Hodge VIP
Politics of the British Virgin Islands
Council Member for the Sixth District
Government 1979-1988, Minister of Nat- Deputy Speaker, 2003-present ural Resources Deputy Chief and Labour Minister and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Government 2007-present Government Backbencher Government 2007-present Government Backbencher Opposition 1999-present Leader of the Opposition 1999-present Government Backbencher Chief Minister
Irene Penn- VIP O’Neal Vernon E. Malone QPM VIP
Territorial At-Large Territorial At-Large Territorial (At-Large) Member Member for the Seventh District Appointed Chief State AtAppointed torney of Ghana
Dr Orlando NDP Smith OBE, MD Kedrick D. Pickering Roy Harrigan Kathleen D.K. Quartey NDP
Opposition
None Independent 2007-present Speaker of the Council None Independent 2007-present Attorney General
preference, and thus constitutional change was inappropriate.
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