ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands (CMC) – The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) was returned to office here on Monday after it won a commanding victory in the general election.

Preliminary results released here showed that that NDP, headed by Premier D Orlando Smith seven of the nine constituencies with the main opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) winning the remaining two seats.

The NDP also took the top four positions in the At Large Elections, with Premier Smith polling 2,212 votes. 

He was topped by his NDP colleague Myron Vernel Walwyn who received 2,233 votes. The other successful NDP candidates are Ronnie Skelton (2,063) and Archibald c Christian (1,806).

A total of 42 candidates contested the elections for the 13 member House of Assembly.

The results showed that VIP leader Julian Fraser, who led the party into an election for the first time having taken over from 81-year-old Ralph T O’Neal, who opted not to seek-re-election, won District 3 by a margin of 596 to 561 over the NDP’s Kevin Smith.

The other successful VIP candidate is Andrew A Fahie, who held on to District One, defeating two other candidates. Fahie polled 652 votes as compared to 277 for the NDP’s Shaina Mary Ann Smith and 69 for the independent Preston Stoute. The VIP had entered the elections with four seats in the last Parliament.

The other political parties – People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) and the People’s Progressive Coalition (PPC) – failed to win any seat in the election that was monitored by a team from the Commonwealth.