General Elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 12 November 1979 for all nine seats in the Legislative Council. The number of seats was increased from seven prior to the election.

Electoral System

The British Virgin Islands elects on territorial level to a unicameral legislature. The Legislative Council consists of 11 members; nine elected representatives for a four year term, the Attorney General (non-voting, ex officio member) and one elected Speaker.

The 1979 general election was the first election to be conducted after the Legislative had been expanded to nine elected seats (from the previous seven). Astonishingly, fully one third of the seats up for election were not contested, with only a single candidate standing in the 3rd, 7th, and 8th Districts. For the 3rd District, this was the second consecutive general election where the seat was uncontested.

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 a newly formed party, the Virgin Islands National Movement (VINM), led by Elvin Stoutt, also contested the election but did not win any seats.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 74.8%.