General Elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 2 June 1971 for all seven seats in the Legislative Council.
Electoral System
The British Virgin Islands elects on territorial level to a unicameral legislature. In the Legislative Council, there are seven representatives elected for a four year term - one elected per district. The Council also includes a Speaker, Attorney General, one Financial Official, and one Nominated Member.
Political Parties & Candidates
Three political parties contested the 1971 general election - the Virgin Islands Party (VIP), headed by the Chief Minister, H. Lavity Stoutt; the opposition Democratic Party (DP), headed by Q. William Osborne; and the United Party (UP), headed by Conrad Maduro. In addition, four persons ran as independent candidates.
Results
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.
Prior to the election Stoutt had was serving as Chief Minister and leader of the UP, but due to internal divisions Stoutt left and formed his new party to contest the election against the UP and the DP, but ended up losing and being replaced by Wheatley as Chief Minister.
Voter Turnout
Voter turnout was
75.68% of the registered 3,832 registered voters.
Post-election
On 4 June 1971, Mr. Wheatley was appointed Chief Minister of the Territory. |
