British Virgin Islands general election, 1971

British Virgin Islands general election, 1971

2 June 1971 (1971-06-02)
All seats in the British Virgin Islands Legislative Council 4 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Conrad Maduro Q.W. Osborne Lavity Stoutt Party BVI United Party VI Democratic Party Virgin Islands Party Leader since 1971 1967 1971 Leader's seat 5th District 4th District 1st District Last election -- Seats before 4 2 0 Seats won 1 3 2 Seat change -3 +1 +2
Chief Minister before election Lavity Stoutt BVI United Party Elected Chief Minister Willard Wheatley VI Democratic Party (Coalition)

The British Virgin Islands general election, 1971 was held in the British Virgin Islands on 2 June 1971. 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.

The election was also notable for the first female candidate in a British Virgin Islands election: Millicent Mercer contested the 5th District on behalf of the VIP, but lost to Conrad Maduro.

In the 7th District the former representative, Robinson O'Neal, had died in a car accident the prior year.

Results

Curiously no record of the exact voting tallies for each seat appears to have survived, but winners and contesting candidates were as follows:

British Virgin Islands general election, 1971

Constituency	Candidates	Winner	Party
1st District	H. Lavity Stoutt (VIP)	H. Lavity Stoutt	Virgin Islands Party
	Wilfred Smith (UP)
2nd District	Austin Henley (VIDP)	Austin Henley	VI Democratic Party
	Connor Stanford (IND)
	Prince Stoutt (IND)
	Neville Hodge (IND)
3rd District	Oliver Cills (VIDP)	Oliver Cills	VI Democratic Party
	Leopold Smith (VIP)
4th District	Q. William Osborne (VIDP)	Q. William Osborne	VI Democratic Party
	I. Glanville Fonseca (POP)
5th District	Conrad Maduro (UP)	Conrad Maduro	BVI United Party
	Henry Hodge (VIDP)
	Millicent Mercer (VIP)
6th District	Willard Wheatley (IND)	Willard Wheatley	Independent
	Terrance B. Lettsome (VIP)
7th District	Reeial George (VIP)	Reeial George	Virgin Islands Party
	Ralph T. O'Neal (VIDP)

Appointments

Following the election:

• Willard Wheatley was appointed Chief Minister and Minister for Education
• Oliver Cills was appointed Minister for Communications, Works and Industry
• Q.W. Osborne was appointed Minister for Natural Resources and Public Health
• Lavity Stoutt became the Leader of the Opposition