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2003 British Virgin Islands general election

General election held in the British Virgin Islands From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Quick facts 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly 7 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...
2003 British Virgin Islands general election
← 1999
16 June 2003 (2003-06-16)
2007 →
13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly
7 seats needed for a majority
Turnout72%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Orlando Smith Ralph T. O'Neal
Party NDP VIP
Leader since 1999 1995
Leader's seat At-large 9th District
Last election 38.14%, 5 seats 36.74%, 7 seats
Seats won 8 5
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 2
Percentage 52.39% 42.22%
Chief Minister before election

Ralph T. O'Neal
VIP

 Elected Chief Minister

Orlando Smith
NDP

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Results

The NDP's victory was largely as a result of sweeping all four of the At-large seats. However, with each voter being able to cast four votes per ballot, the margin between the bottom NDP candidate (Paul Wattley) and the top VIP candidate (Reeial George) was a mere 41 votes, out of a total of 7,351 ballots cast (a margin of 0.5%). The other key win for the NDP was in the Fifth District where Delores Christopher carried the seat for the NDP by a wafer thin margin of just 3 votes in a constituency where a total of 20 ballots were rejected by elections officers.

Voters exercised a largely binary choice between the two main parties. No third party candidate or independent polled well in any area. In the Territorial seats, Alred Frett in the Fifth District was the highest vote-getter, with a mere 7.1% of the votes. In the At-large seats, the top eight spots went to the four candidates for each of the two main parties, with a massive drop off in numbers of votes for the ninth place candidate (Conrad Maduro, a former elected representative on the United Party ticket).

More information Party, District ...
PartyDistrictAt-largeTotal
seats		+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
National Democratic Party3,39046.59415,29552.3948+3
Virgin Islands Party3,79952.21512,32542.2205–2
United Party5902.02000
Independents871.2009843.37000
Speaker and Attorney General20
Total7,276100.00929,194100.004150
Valid votes7,27698.757,33699.80
Invalid/blank votes921.25150.20
Total votes7,368100.007,351100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,18472.3510,18072.21
Source: Elections in the Virgin Islands
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District seats

More information Candidate, Party ...
1st District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Andrew FahieVirgin Islands Party55871.45
Archibald ChristianNational Democratic Party22328.55
Total781100.00
Valid votes78199.24
Invalid/blank votes60.76
Total votes787100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,15468.20
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More information Candidate, Party ...
2nd District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Alvin ChristopherNational Democratic Party50768.79
Kelvin ThomasVirgin Islands Party23031.21
Total737100.00
Valid votes73799.33
Invalid/blank votes50.67
Total votes742100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,10567.15
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More information Candidate, Party ...
3rd District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Julian FraserVirgin Islands Party47359.27
Michael ThomasNational Democratic Party32540.73
Total798100.00
Valid votes79899.13
Invalid/blank votes70.87
Total votes805100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,05876.09
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More information Candidate, Party ...
4th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Mark VanterpoolVirgin Islands Party51160.26
Audley MaduroNational Democratic Party33739.74
Total848100.00
Valid votes84898.60
Invalid/blank votes121.40
Total votes860100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,17273.38
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More information Candidate, Party ...
5th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Delores ChristopherNational Democratic Party36246.53
Ethlyn SmithVirgin Islands Party35946.14
Alred FrettIndependent577.33
Total778100.00
Valid votes77897.49
Invalid/blank votes202.51
Total votes798100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,22265.30
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More information Candidate, Party ...
6th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Omar HodgeVirgin Islands Party48955.89
Walwyn BrewleyNational Democratic Party35640.69
Leopold RichardsonIndependent303.43
Total875100.00
Valid votes87598.43
Invalid/blank votes141.57
Total votes889100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,28968.97
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More information Candidate, Party ...
7th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Kedrick PickeringNational Democratic Party45263.22
Clinton GeorgeVirgin Islands Party26336.78
Total715100.00
Valid votes71599.31
Invalid/blank votes50.69
Total votes720100.00
Registered voters/turnout94176.51
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More information Candidate, Party ...
8th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Lloyd BlackNational Democratic Party45858.87
Ray GeorgeVirgin Islands Party32041.13
Total778100.00
Valid votes77898.86
Invalid/blank votes91.14
Total votes787100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,01077.92
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More information Candidate, Party ...
9th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Ralph T. O'NealVirgin Islands Party59661.70
Hubert O'NealNational Democratic Party37038.30
Total966100.00
Valid votes96698.57
Invalid/blank votes141.43
Total votes980100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,23379.48
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At-large seats

More information Candidate, Party ...
CandidatePartyVotes%
Orlando SmithNational Democratic Party4,30014.73
Ronnie W. SkeltonNational Democratic Party4,16514.27
Eileene ParsonsNational Democratic Party3,51512.04
Paul P. WattleyNational Democratic Party3,31511.36
Reeial GeorgeVirgin Islands Party3,27411.21
Irene Penn-O'NealVirgin Islands Party3,15710.81
Elvis HarriganVirgin Islands Party3,12810.71
Roy PickeringVirgin Islands Party2,7669.47
Conrad MaduroBVI United Party5902.02
John I. ClineIndependent4501.54
Henry Einstein KettleIndependent2200.75
Richard Courtney de CastroIndependent1720.59
Eileene E. BaronvilleIndependent1420.49
Total29,194100.00
Valid votes7,33699.80
Invalid/blank votes150.20
Total votes7,351100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,18072.21
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