Leader of the Opposition (British Virgin Islands)

To date a total of fourteen people (all men) have served as Leader of the Opposition - over twice the number who have served as Premier or Chief Minister. Every person who has served as Chief Minister or Premier has also served as Leader of the Opposition at some point. No person has ever served consecutive terms as Leader of the Opposition.

On five occasions has the Leader of the Opposition changed between elections:

• In 1977, when Austin Henley died.
• In 1988, when Ralph O'Neal left the United Party to join the Government.
• In 2017, when Andrew Fahie ousted Julian Fraser as leader of the opposition Virgin Islands Party.
• In 2018, when a split in the ruling government party led to Ronnie Skelton becoming the leader of the largest non-Government party.
• In 2022 when the opposition National Democratic Party joined the Virgin Islands Party in a unity government,[3] and left Julian Fraser as the member of the House of Assembly who was not in either party or in Cabinet.

In 2014, whilst Ralph O'Neal was Leader of the Opposition he stepped down as leader of the Virgin Islands Party in favour of Julian Fraser. However O'Neal remained the official Leader of the Opposition under the Territory's constitution until he stood down in subsequent general election in June 2015. In that election only two members of the opposition Virgin Islands Party won their seats - Julian Fraser and Andrew Fahie. Subsequently Fraser and Fahie argued over who should be named as Leader of the Opposition;[4] Fahie believed he commanded majority support within the party and should take over as party leader following the general election defeat.[5] As the Constitution required that the Leader of the Opposition commanded a support of the "majority" of the opposition members,[1] and the only two opposition members disagreed, there was an impasse. Governor John Duncan gave the men a month to resolve their differences, but they were unable to do so, and eventually the Governor appointed Fraser as the official Leader of the Opposition.[6] Fahie would later oust Fraser as party leader, and would then be appointed as Leader of the Opposition in his stead.[7]

Prior to 1967 politicians were not elected on a party political basis, and thus Leaders of the Opposition only came into being with the introduction of party politics and Ministerial rule after the 1967 general election.

The following is a list of the Leaders of the Opposition in the British Virgin Islands from 1967 to date.

Party affiliations are as follows:

• VIP—Virgin Islands Party
• NDP—National Democratic Party
• CCM—Concerned Citizens Movement
• PVIM—Positive Virgin Islands Movement
• VIDP—VI Democratic Party (defunct)
• UP—United Party (defunct)
• PU—Progressives United