Premier of the Virgin Islands

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Premier of the Virgin Islands
Coat of arms of the British Virgin Islands.svg
Natalio D. Wheatley - Meeting with US Congressional Delegation (cropped).jpg
Incumbent
Natalio Wheatley
since 5 May 2022
Style The Honourable
Appointer Governor of the Virgin Islands
Term length At the Governor's pleasure (normally 4 years)
Formation14 April 1967
First holder Hamilton Lavity Stoutt
as Chief Minister
Website Office of the Premier

The Premier of the Virgin Islands [1] is the head of government for the British Virgin Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, the Premier is appointed by the Governor on behalf of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. [2] Until 2007, the head of government was known as the Chief Minister of the Virgin Islands, but a constitutional change in 2007 renamed the position as Premier. [3]

Contents

The current Premier is Natalio Wheatley. He is serving since 5 May 2022. [4]

History of the office

Since the 1967 constitution was adopted, only seven different people (all men) have served as Premier or Chief Minister, and each of them except for Cyril Romney has served at least two full terms. Also, each of them has served as the Leader of the Opposition.

H. Lavity Stoutt won the most general elections of any leader (he won five), followed by Orlando Smith (three). Stoutt, Smith and Willard Wheatley are the only leaders to have served two consecutive full terms (Ralph T. O'Neal also served two consecutive terms, but the first of those was the remaining part of a term after Stoutt's death).

List

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

   UP    VIDP    VIP    NDP
No.PortraitName
(Birth–Death)
Term of office [lower-alpha 1] Political partyElectedNotes
Took officeLeft officeTime in office
Chief Ministers (1967–2007)
1 No image.png H. Lavity Stoutt
(1929–1995)
14 April 19672 June 19714 years, 49 days United Party 1967 First tenure
2 No image.png Willard Wheatley
(1915–1997)
2 June 197112 November 19798 years, 163 days VI Democratic Party 1971
1975
(2) United Party [lower-alpha 2]
(1) No image.png H. Lavity Stoutt
(1929–1995)
12 November 197911 November 19833 years, 364 days Virgin Islands Party 1979 Second tenure
3 No image.png Cyril Romney
(1931–2007)
11 November 198317 November 19863 years, 6 days United Party 1983
(1) No image.png H. Lavity Stoutt
(1929–1995)
17 November 198614 May 19958 years, 178 days Virgin Islands Party 1986
1990
1995
Third tenure. Died in office
4 Ralph T. O'Neal (cropped).jpg Ralph T. O'Neal
(1933–2019)
15 May 199517 June 20038 years, 33 days Virgin Islands Party 1999
5 D. Orlando Smith (cropped).jpg D. Orlando Smith
(born 1944)
17 June 200323 August 20074 years, 67 days National Democratic Party 2003
Premiers (2007–present)
1 Ralph T. O'Neal (cropped).jpg Ralph T. O'Neal
(1933–2019)
23 August 20079 November 20114 years, 78 days Virgin Islands Party 2007
2 D. Orlando Smith (cropped).jpg D. Orlando Smith
(born 1944)
9 November 201125 February 20197 years, 108 days National Democratic Party 2011
2015
3 Andrew Fahie 2021.jpg Andrew Fahie
(born 1970)
26 February 20195 May 20223 years, 69 days Virgin Islands Party 2019
4 Natalio D. Wheatley (profile).jpg Natalio Wheatley
(born 1980)
5 May 2022Incumbent1 year, 271 days Virgin Islands Party 2023

All previous Chief Ministers or Premiers have served at least two terms except for Cyril Romney and Andrew Fahie.

NameGeneral Election
victories
Total time in office
(days)
1 Lavity Stoutt 56,117
2 Ralph O'Neal 24,494
3 Orlando Smith 34,194
4 Willard Wheatley 23,085
5 Andrew Fahie 11,164
6 Cyril Romney 11,055
7 Natalio Wheatley 1636

See also

Notes

  1. Duration of terms are calculated as commencing on the date of the election; not the actual subsequent date of appointment by the Governor, which is usually a few days later.
  2. Wheatley led a coalition of himself plus the VI Democratic Party in the 1971 election and then another coalition of himself plus the United Party in the 1975 election.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of the British Virgin Islands</span>

His Majesty's Government of the Virgin Islands is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of the British Virgin Islands. It is regulated by the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orlando Smith</span> British Virgin Islands politician (born 1944)

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.

The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is a 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 Islands, and it has won more general elections (seven) than any other political party in the British Virgin Islands.

Cyril Brandtford Romney was a British Virgin Islander politician who served as Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1983 to 1986. He also served as a member of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands from 1979 to 1995. He was the first British Virgin Islander to hold the post of Financial Secretary, and was also a business leader in the Territory and the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph T. O'Neal</span> British Virgin Islands politician (1933–2019)

Ralph Telford O'Neal, OBE was a British Virgin Islander politician. He was the longest ever serving elected representative in the British Virgin Islands, and served as Chief Minister or Premier of the British Virgin Islands for three terms.

Willard Wheatley MBE was a British Virgin Islands educator and politician who served two consecutive terms as the Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1971 to 1979. He was the second ever Chief Minister of the Territory, and the first ever minister of finance. He served as Chief Minister at the head of two different coalition governments: one as de facto leader of the United Party, and the other the VI Democratic Party.

The United Party was a political party of the British Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the British Virgin Islands</span> Politics of a British overseas territory

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.

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.

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.

General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 1 September 1975. The result was one of the most confused in the Territory's history, but is officially recorded as a victory for the United Party led by Willard Wheatley over the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by former Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt.

General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 2 June 1971. The result was a victory for a coalition of the VI Democratic Party (DP) together with independent candidate Willard Wheatley over the newly formed Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by former Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt, and incumbent BVI United Party (UP) led by Conrad Maduro.

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 VI Democratic Party was a political party of the British Virgin Islands.

Conrad Antonio Maduro is a British Virgin Islander politician and longtime leader of the United Party. Remarkably, Conrad Maduro has led his party to victory at three different general elections, but has never been appointed Chief Minister.

Dr Qwominer William Osborne, OBE was a British Virgin Islander politician and physician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leader of the Opposition (British Virgin Islands)</span>

The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Assembly that is not in government.

References

  1. While the territory is commonly known as the 'British Virgin Islands', her official name is simply 'Virgin Islands'.
  2. The Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007 Archived 22 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine (SI 2007/1678)
  3. The Virgin Islands (Constitution) Order 1976 Archived 2009-05-03 at the Wayback Machine (SI 1976/2145), as amended by 1979/1603, 1982/151, 1991/2871 and 1994/1638
  4. "Dr Wheatley sworn in as Premier! New cross-party gov't also installed". BVINews. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

Further reading