Daniel Orlando Smith, OBE is a British Virgin Islands politician and the former Premier of the British Virgin Islands from 2011 to 2019 and from 2003 to 2007. He also formerly served as Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 2003 to 2007. He first won the office when his National Democratic Party won the 2003 general election, being the party's first victory at a general election in its history.
Elections in the British Virgin Islands are conducted to elect members to the House of Assembly. In the British Virgin Islands elections are not conducted in relation to appointments to either the Executive or Judicial branches of Government, and there are no other publicly elected posts in the British Virgin Islands. Most elections are conducted as general elections, which under the Constitution are required to be held every four years, or as by-elections when a member of the House of Assembly dies or steps down. Since the re-introduction of democracy into the British Virgin Islands in 1950 there have been fifteen general elections, and three recorded by-elections. The last election was held on 25 February 2019.
Ruth Dancia Penn, is a British Virgin Islands politician and former Deputy Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 20 September 2004 to 1 April 2007. She also formerly served as the Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands from 1992 to 1999.
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.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 17 May 1999. The result was a victory for the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Chief Minister Ralph T. O'Neal over the newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP) led by Orlando Smith.
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 House of Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Military defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom.
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt from 28 November 2011 to 11 January 2012, following the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, after which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved Parliament. However the dissolution was ruled unconstitutional and Parliament was reinstated. Originally, the elections had been scheduled to be held in September 2011, but were postponed amid concerns that established parties would gain undue advantage.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 7 November 2011. The result was a decisive victory for the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) led by Orlando Smith over the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP), led by Premier Ralph T. O'Neal. No minor parties or independent candidates won any seats.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 20 February 1995. The result was a victory for the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt. The VIP won a plurality of six seats, and thus were able to form a minority government as no other party or coalition could muster a larger number of seats. The BVI United Party (UP) won three seats, and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won two seats. The two other seats were won by independents. Shortly after the election Alvin Christopher joined the VIP upon being offered a Ministerial seat, giving the VIP an outright majority.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 12 November 1990. The result was a decisive victory for the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt. Three other parties contested the election: the BVI United Party (UP) led by Conrad Maduro, the newly formed Progressive People's Democratic Party (PPDP) led by former Chief Minister Willard Wheatley, and the newly formed Independent People's Movement (IPM) which fielded only two candidates. The only candidate from a party other than the VIP to be elected was Omar Hodge of the IPM in the Sixth District. Independent candidates won in the Fourth and Fifth Districts, and the VIP won every other available seat.
Snap general elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 17 November 1986. The result was a victory for the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt over the United Party (UP). Subsequent to the election, Ralph T. O'Neal became leader of the opposition despite not being head of the UP.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 11 November 1983. The result was a victory for the opposition United Party in coalition with independent candidate Cyril Romney over the governing Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by former Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt. Each major party won four seats, and Cyril Romney was the sole remaining elected independent. Accordingly, Romney allegedly agree to join a coalition with whichever party would make him Chief Minister. The VIP declined to do so, but the UP eventually agreed thereby winning the election despite securing a smaller overall percentage of the vote.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 12 November 1979. The result was a victory for the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by former Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt over the incumbent United Party (UP) led by Willard Wheatley. The newly formed Virgin Islands National Movement (VINM), led by Elvin Stoutt, also contested the elections but did not win any seats.
The People's Empowerment Party is a defunct political party in the British Virgin Islands, led by former House of Assembly member for the second district Alvin Christopher. Mr Christopher has previously been elected as a representative of the Virgin Islands Party, the National Democratic Party and as an independent. It has no elected representatives and may now be defunct.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 8 June 2015 to elect members to the House of Assembly. The result was a landslide victory for the incumbent National Democratic Party (NDP) over the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP). No minor parties or independent candidates won any seats. Unusually, every single incumbent candidate who stood in their original seat was victorious.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 14 April 1967. The election was the first general election after the passing of the new Constitution earlier in the same year, which introduced Ministerial Government into the British Virgin Islands for the first time. Elections under the prior Constitution introduced in 1950 to restore the Legislative Council had merely elected legislators. It is probably fair to say that 1967 marked the introduction of true direct democratic rule in the British Virgin Islands. But, notwithstanding the introduction of Ministerial Government, the resulting Legislative Council is still referred to as the 6th Legislative Council in deference to the five prior Councils elected under the 1950 Constitution.
The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Assembly that is not in government.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 25 February 2019. For the first time, four parties with at least one incumbent member were contesting an election.
Alvera Maduro-Caines is a British Virgin Islands politician. She is a member of the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands for the Sixth District, a position that she has held since the 2011 general election. She was originally elected as a representative of the National Democratic Party but in 2020, she crossed the floor to join the Virgin Islands Party. She is the current Junior Minister for Culture and Tourism.
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 24 April 2023.
