1975 British Virgin Islands general election

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.

1975 British Virgin Islands general election

← 1971 1 September 1975 (1975-09-01) 1979 →
All seats in the British Virgin Islands Legislative Council 4 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.6%
First party Second party   Leader Lavity Stoutt Willard Wheatley Party VIP United Party Leader since 1971 1975 Leader's seat 1st District 6th District Seats before 2 1 Seats won 3 2 Seat change 1 1
Chief Minister before election Willard Wheatley VI Democratic Party (Coalition) Elected Chief Minister Willard Wheatley United Party (Coalition)

In reality the election provided no clear consensus, and when the election was over, successful candidates dropped their prior allegiances and tried to broker deals that would enable them to secure power. At the end of this process Willard Wheatley retained his role as Chief Minister and led a coalition loosely affiliated to the United Party. But as has been recorded: "The 1975 General Elections did not produce a clear majority for any party and the loyalties, which appeared to have existed prior to and in the course of the election campaign, fell apart in the aftermath. Mr. W.W. Wheatly again emerged as Chief Minister, but with a different team."^[1]

Background

The 1975 general election was something of a dangerous crossroad for British Virgin Islands politics. The first party political election in 1967 had been won by the United Party. However, internal struggles relating to who should be leader led to the party fragmenting before the next election. That allowed the opposition VI Democratic Party to win the 1971 election, but exactly the same thing happened to them: disagreements between party leader Q.W. Osborne and Chief Minister Willard Wheatley led Wheatley to remove Osborne from his Ministerial seat. The resulting discord meant that, despite technically being the party in power, the VI Democratic Party did not actually promote any candidates at all for the 1975 election^[2] - Wheatley left to form an alliance with the United Party, and Osborne left to join the Virgin Islands Party.

Results

Willard Wheatley won the election in a coalition with the United Party. Although the United Party only won two seats, fewer than the Virgin Islands Party (which won three), Wheatley was able to assemble a coalition and remain Chief Minister and at the head of government.

Austin Henley was a former member of the VI Democratic Party, but ran as a United Party candidate. However, after the election he was named Leader of the Opposition. Henley later died in office, and Oliver Cills continued as Leader of the Opposition. Both Henley and Cills were recorded as members of the VI Democratic Party whilst Leaders of the Opposition.

Candidates elected for the first time included future Chief Minister and Premier, Ralph T. O'Neal.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Virgin Islands Party	1,591	53.82	3	+1
	United Party	797	26.96	2	+1
	VI Progressive Party	89	3.01	0	New
	Oliver Cills	0	0.00	1	–
	Independents	479	16.20	1	0
Total		2,956	100.00	7	0
Valid votes		2,956	98.66
Invalid/blank votes		40	1.34
Total votes		2,996	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,018	74.56
Source: BVI Deputy Governor's Office[1]

By constituency

Oliver Cills was elected unopposed in the 3rd District.

1st District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Hamilton Lavity Stoutt	Virgin Islands Party	334	75.06
	Cyril Romney	Independent	111	24.94
Total			445	100.00
Valid votes			445	99.55
Invalid/blank votes			2	0.45
Total votes			447	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			564	79.26

2nd District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Austin Henley	United Party	191	50.13
	Stanford Connor	Virgin Islands Party	190	49.87
Total			381	100.00
Valid votes			381	97.69
Invalid/blank votes			9	2.31
Total votes			390	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			568	68.66

4th District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Alban Anthony	Virgin Islands Party	288	60.25
	Noel Lloyd	Virgin Islands Progressive Party	89	18.62
	Isaac Glanville Fonseca	Independent	60	12.55
	Walter Lindy DeCastro	United Party	41	8.58
Total			478	100.00
Valid votes			478	98.56
Invalid/blank votes			7	1.44
Total votes			485	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			714	67.93

5th District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Qwominer William Osborne	Virgin Islands Party	323	56.77
	Conrad Maduro	United Party	246	43.23
Total			569	100.00
Valid votes			569	98.27
Invalid/blank votes			10	1.73
Total votes			579	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			779	74.33

6th District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Willard Wheatley	United Party	319	52.73
	Terrance B. Lettsome	Virgin Islands Party	286	47.27
Total			605	100.00
Valid votes			605	98.69
Invalid/blank votes			8	1.31
Total votes			613	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			839	73.06

7th District

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Ralph T. O'Neal	Independent	306	64.02
	Reeial George	Virgin Islands Party	170	35.56
	Reuben Wheatley	Independent	2	0.42
Total			478	100.00
Valid votes			478	99.17
Invalid/blank votes			4	0.83
Total votes			482	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			554	87.00

Footnotes

1. "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. pp. 79–81, 215. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
2. Oliver Cills, a former VIDP member, ran unopposed and therefore was not required to declare party.