ROADTOWN Tortola BVI, November 9th, 2011 -- An International Observer Mission was invited by His Excellency Governor Boyd McCleary CMG, CVO to observe the conduct of the general elections process in the British Virgin Islands including the national elections, which were held on Monday November 7, 2011. The Mission comprised of two teams representing the Caribbean Community and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The Mission paid courtesy calls on Governor McCleary at a meeting where the members were introduced to Madame V. Inez Archibald Deputy Governor of the British Virgin Islands and received valuable background information on the electoral system that obtained in the territory and the electoral process that was set in motion following the dissolution of the BVI House of Assembly and the setting of the date for the territory’s national elections. This information was further amplified during a briefing session with Ms Juliette Penn, Supervisor of Elections.

The Mission also paid courtesy calls on Mr. Ralph T. O’Neal, Premier and Chairman of the Virgin Islands Party and on Dr. D. Orlando Smith President of the National Democratic Party. Both of these distinguished gentlemen were exceedingly gracious in allocating some of their valuable time to a meeting with team members.

The Mission was able to observe the electoral process at work both for the Advance Polling Day and on Election Day. On Elections Day, the Mission was deployed into four separate teams and consequently were able to visit all nine Districts and every polling station.

Emphasis was placed on observing the arrangements made at the opening and closing of the polls including the security of the ballot boxes, the presence of agents and the procedures that would assure voters regarding the secrecy of their ballots.

Every opportunity was also taken to speak informally to citizens of the BVI regarding their views on the electoral process including the extent to which they were aware of the actual voting process and of their rights, duties and obligations during this period.

The Mission also focused its attention on determining whether the Territory’s electoral laws for ensuring the freeness and fairness of the electoral process were being observed and in particular whether there were activities in and around the polling station which could be considered as being intimidating or having an impact on a voter’s freedom of choice.

The British Virgin Islands enjoys an enviable reputation of having a well run electoral process and just as enviable for having a citizenry that believes in the fairness of that process. Such national confidence in the system allows for the free exchange of views that are the hallmark of a democratic process at work. This was put to the test on November 7, 2011 and the Mission was present to observe the results.

The Mission met this morning and discussed what was encountered on Election Day. What we witnessed and now pay public tribute to were hard working public officials - the Elections Supervisor and her support staff of workers at her office and in the field at the various Polling Stations; the officers and ranks of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force; the Polling Agents casting their watchful eyes at the balloting and the counting of ballots – all these people committed to ensuring that the electoral process worked and worked well.

What we saw were lines of people patiently waiting to place their stamp of approval on an electoral process not only to ensure that their preferred candidate received a fair and just opportunity to succeed but also to confirm that democracy was alive and well in the BVI.

And what we saw was the culmination of a process that provided arithmetic confirmation of the enthusiasm which the people of the BVI have for the preservation, and hopefully the amelioration of their electoral system.

Having observed the conduct of the recently held national elections it is our conclusion that there was nothing untoward - unconstitutional, illegal or otherwise - that took place which could be construed as having any significant influence on the outcome of the elections.

We were satisfied with how the entire process was conducted. In the circumstances the Mission wishes to affirm that the will of the people of the British Virgin Islands was fairly and freely expressed in an open democratic process during the national elections 2011.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation of the warm and friendly manner in which we were received by the people of the British Virgin Islands that we met, both formally and informally, during our all too brief stay here. We further express the modest hope that our Final Report will contribute in some way to the territory’s ongoing process of nation building.

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