Premier of the Virgin Islands | |
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Style | The Honourable |
Appointer | Governor of the Virgin Islands |
Term length | At the Governor's pleasure (normally 4 years) |
Formation | 14 April 1967 |
First holder | Hamilton Lavity Stoutt as Chief Minister |
Website | Office of the Premier |
Judiciary |
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Administrative divisions |
Foreign relations |
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]
The current Premier is Natalio Wheatley. He is serving since 5 May 2022. [4]
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).
(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
UP VIDP VIP NDP | ||||||||
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No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office [lower-alpha 1] | Political party | Elected | Notes | ||
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
Chief Ministers (1967–2007) | ||||||||
1 | H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995) | 14 April 1967 | 2 June 1971 | 4 years, 49 days | United Party | 1967 | First tenure | |
2 | Willard Wheatley (1915–1997) | 2 June 1971 | 12 November 1979 | 8 years, 163 days | VI Democratic Party | 1971 1975 | ||
(2) | United Party [lower-alpha 2] | |||||||
(1) | H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995) | 12 November 1979 | 11 November 1983 | 3 years, 364 days | Virgin Islands Party | 1979 | Second tenure | |
3 | Cyril Romney (1931–2007) | 11 November 1983 | 17 November 1986 | 3 years, 6 days | United Party | 1983 | ||
(1) | H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995) | 17 November 1986 | 14 May 1995 | 8 years, 178 days | Virgin Islands Party | 1986 1990 1995 | Third tenure. Died in office | |
4 | Ralph T. O'Neal (1933–2019) | 15 May 1995 | 17 June 2003 | 8 years, 33 days | Virgin Islands Party | 1999 | ||
5 | D. Orlando Smith (born 1944) | 17 June 2003 | 23 August 2007 | 4 years, 67 days | National Democratic Party | 2003 | ||
Premiers (2007–present) | ||||||||
1 | Ralph T. O'Neal (1933–2019) | 23 August 2007 | 9 November 2011 | 4 years, 78 days | Virgin Islands Party | 2007 | ||
2 | D. Orlando Smith (born 1944) | 9 November 2011 | 25 February 2019 | 7 years, 108 days | National Democratic Party | 2011 2015 | ||
3 | Andrew Fahie (born 1970) | 26 February 2019 | 5 May 2022 | 3 years, 69 days | Virgin Islands Party | 2019 | ||
4 | Natalio Wheatley (born 1980) | 5 May 2022 | Incumbent | 1 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.
№ | Name | General Election victories | Total time in office (days) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lavity Stoutt | 5 | 6,117 |
2 | Ralph O'Neal | 2 | 4,494 |
3 | Orlando Smith | 3 | 4,194 |
4 | Willard Wheatley | 2 | 3,085 |
5 | Andrew Fahie | 1 | 1,164 |
6 | Cyril Romney | 1 | 1,055 |
7 | Natalio Wheatley | 1 | 636 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Assembly that is not in government.