2003 British Virgin Islands general election


The 2003 general election was held in the British Virgin Islands on 16 June 2003. It was won by the opposition National Democratic Party, 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 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.
The 2003 general election was also the first election in the British Virgin Islands where the United Party failed to field a candidate.

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 and the top VIP candidate was a mere 41 votes, out of a total of 7,351 ballots cast. 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.

Individual territorial seats

The winning candidate is highlighted in blue. The previous incumbent is indicated in bold.
First Electoral District
CandidateCarrot BayZion HillTotalPercentage
Andrew FAHIE 23732155870.9%
Archibald CHRISTIAN 5117222328.3%
REJECTED1560.8%

Second Electoral District
CandidateMeyersJost Van DykeBrewers BayCane Garden BayTotalPercentage
Alvin CHRISTOPHER 146859118550768.3%
Kelvin THOMAS 11413188523031.0%
REJECTED200350.7%

Third Electoral District
CandidatesSea Cows BayTotalPercentage
Julian FRASER 47347358.8%
Michael THOMAS 32532540.4%
REJECTED770.9%

Fourth Electoral District
CandidatesRoad TownSalt IslandTotalPercentage
Mark VANTERPOOL 509251159.0%
Audley MADURO 336133739%
REJECTED120122%

Fifth Electoral District
CandidatesLong TrenchHuntum's GhutTotalPercentage
Delores CHRISTOPHER 11225036245.3%
Ethlyn SMITH 7528435945.0%
Alred Frett 1443577.1%
REJECTED515202.5%

Sixth Electoral District
CandidatesBelle VueBaughers BayTotalPercentage
Omar HODGE 7341648955%
Walwyn BREWLEY 7028635640%
Leopold RICHARDSON 426303%
REJECTED212142%

Seventh Electoral District
CandidatesLong LookTotalPercentage
Kedrick PICKERING 45245262.8%
Clinton George 26326336.5%
REJECTED550.7%

Eighth Electoral District
CandidatesHope EstateEast EndTotalPercentage
Lloyd BLACK 1344545858.2%
Ray George 2429632040.7%
REJECTED0991.1%

Ninth Electoral District
CandidatesThe ValleyNorth SoundAnegadaTotalPercentage
Ralph T. O'NEAL 3901733359660.8%
Hubert O'NEAL260605037037.8%
REJECTED950141.4%

At-large seats

Territorial At-Large Electoral District
PositionNameAffiliationTotalPercentage
1SMITH, D. OrlandoNDP4,30014.72%
2SKELTON, Ronnie W.NDP4,16514.26%
3PARSONS, Eileene LuciaNDP3,51512.03%
4WATTLEY, Paul P.NDP3,31511.35%
5GEORGE, Reeial VIP 3,27411.21%
6PENN-O'NEAL, IreneVIP3,15710.81%
7HARRIGAN, ElvisVIP3,12810.71%
8PICKERING, RoyVIP2,7669.47%
9MADURO, ConradIND5902.02%
10CLINE, John I.IND4501.54%
11KETTLE, Henry EinsteinIND2200.75%
12DE CASTRO, Richard CourtneyIND1720.59%
13BARONVILLE, Eilieene E.IND1420.49%