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All seats in the British Virgin Islands Legislative Council 5 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 74.8% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 12 November 1979. 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 newly formed Virgin Islands National Movement (VINM), led by Elvin Stoutt, also contested the elections but did not win any seats.
The supervisor of elections was Trevor A.F. Peters.[1] Voter turnout was 74.8%.
The 1979 general election was the first election to be conducted after the legislature had been expanded from seven to nine elected seats. Three of the nine seats 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 Virgin Islands Party won the election despite receiving only 733 votes in aggregate across all seats, and just 27.8% of the vote. This low figure was in part was caused by the high number of uncontested seats, but also reflected significant voter disenchantment with the political process.