Elections

Elections must be held at least every four years, or sooner if the ruling party requests, or if the ruling party, or coalition, seems to have lost its ability to control the government.

The last elections were held in 2007, when the stalwart Virgin Islands Party (VIP) won a stunning 11 of 13 seats, ousting the first-term National Democratic Party. Led by Premier Ralph T. O’Neal, the VIP promised to halt plans for several new hotel developments around the territory. It also promised to focus on the needs of “little men”—low- and middle-income residents.

There are about 10,000 registered voters in the BVI—about half of the population. Immigrants who have settled in the territory must obtain citizenship—called belonger status—before they can register to vote.

Judicial and Penal Systems

The BVI is part of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, which administers courts in eight different eastern Caribbean jurisdictions. Judges are rotated among the jurisdictions. Rarely will a judge or magistrate from the Virgin Islands preside over court there. The law is based on English common law, and courtroom practices follow those used in England. Appeals are heard by the three-judge Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeals. The final court of appeal is the privy council in the United Kingdom.

In 2009 the BVI opened a new courthouse dedicated to commercial matters, an offshoot of the territory’s financial services industry.

Lawyers and judges wear black robes with high white collars in court, but no wigs. In magistrate’s court, the attire is business suits.

Prisoners serve their sentences in a hilltop prison on the remote northeastern corner of Tortola. Few people remember when the last person was executed here, but that did not stop a loud public outcry in 1999 when the U.K. required all its territories to remove capital punishment from the law books.

Crime

Not long ago, violent crime was virtually unheard of in the British Virgin Islands. In the past decade, however, serious crime has become a fact of life in the BVI. Homicide figures are still relatively low—there were six homicides in 2007—but the upward trend is unmistakable and troubling to this peace-loving community. Visitors do not need to worry about crime, but you should take some basic safety precautions. Lock your door and leave your valuables at home. Most incidents of crime involving tourists are burglaries.

Economy

The British Virgin Islands has a complex and in many ways contradictory economy. On one hand it is one of the most prosperous territories in the Caribbean, fueled by high-end tourism and financial services. In 2007, the BVI’s gross domestic product was $1.1 billion.

There is virtually no unemployment; in fact, the territory’s economy is so hot that the BVI must import more than half of its workforce. Despite this prosperity, some people in the BVI are poor. The minimum wage is a staggeringly low $4 per hour, and the cost of living is among the highest in the Caribbean. A recent study found that almost 25 percent of people in the BVI live below the poverty line. Many of the poorest workers are employed in the construction and tourism industries.

On the other end of the economic spectrum is financial services, the other pillar of the BVI economy. More than 450,000 active companies are on the BVI’s offshore registry, attracted by low incorporation fees, no taxes, and the BVI’s political and economic stability. Since 1990, the territory has sought to diversify its offshore sector, with the addition of legislation for mutual fund administration, captive insurance, insolvency, and special trusts. Financial services account for more than half of the government’s annual revenues.

So far, the BVI has escaped inclusion on so-called offshore blacklists. Neither has it ever been named in any high-profile money laundering case. Thousands of European and American professionals work in the BVI’s financial services industry, and the government has pledged to do more to open up opportunities for British Virgin Islanders in the industry.

© Susanna Henighan Potter from Moon Virgin Islands, 4th edition