Politics of the United States Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United States Virgin Islands
Constitution United States Constitution 2007 Constitutional Convention
Executive Government Governor John de Jongh Lieutnenant Governor Gregory R. Francis Cabinet
Legislature Legislature President of the Legislature Usie R. Richards
Judiciary Court System Supreme Court District Court Superior Court
Elections Elections Political Parties Democratic Party Independent Citizens Movement Republican Party Political party strength
Divisions Districts and sub-districts Islands St. Croix St. Thomas St. John
Federal Relations Federal representation United States House of Representatives Delegate of the U.S. Virgin Islands Donna Christian-Christensen (D)
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Politics of the United States Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency, whereby the Governor is the head of the local government, and of a multi-party system. The United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior. Executive power is exercised by the local government of the Virgin Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Virgin Islands residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in United States presidential election and cannot elect voting members of Congress. However, in the U.S. House of Representatives, they are represented by a Delegate, who can vote in congressional committees but not in the House itself. Virgin Islands residents can vote fully in all elections if they become a resident of one of the 50 U.S. states.

A federal lawsuit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is currently pending to provide Virgin Islanders with the fundamental right to be represented in Congress and vote for U.S. President. The case is Civil No. 3:11-cv-110, Charles v. U.S. Federal Elections Commission. The case alleges it was racial discrimination present in an all-white and segregated Congress of 1917 that was the impetus to deny the right to vote to a majority non-white constituency.

Law

The Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands of 1954 (Pub.L. 83–517, 68 Stat. 497, enacted July 22, 1954) is the current Organic Act defining the government of the United States Virgin Islands acquired by the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. It replaced the Organic Act of the Virgin Islands of 1936 (Pub.L. 74–749, 49 Stat. 1807, enacted June 22, 1936) and the earlier temporary provisions (Pub.L. 64–389, 39 Stat. 1132, enacted March 3, 1917).

It was subsequently amended by Pub.L. 85–851 (Pub.L. 85–851, 72 Stat. 1094, enacted August 28, 1958) which prohibited political or religious tests but required a loyalty oath as qualification to any office or public trust, by the Virgin Islands Elective Governor Act (Pub.L. 90–496, 82 Stat. 837, enacted August 23, 1968) which made the Governor an elected office, by Pub.L. 98–213 (Pub.L. 98–213, 97 Stat. 1459, enacted December 8, 1983), and by Pub.L. 98–454 (Pub.L. 98–454, 98 Stat. 1732, enacted October 5, 1984), which removed the reight to indictment for certain crimes and removed the jurisdiction of the admiralty courts.

There have been several attempts at a constitution. The most recent attempt was the Fifth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands which passed a proposed constitution in May 2009 but was rejected by Congress in June 2010.

Executive branch

See also: List of United States Virgin Islands Governors

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President of the United States	Barack Obama	Democratic	20 January 2009
Governor	John de Jongh	Democratic	1 January 2007

The governor and the lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms.

Territorial Cabinet

Department	Office	Incumbent	in Office since
Department of Finance	Commissioner	Angel E. Dawson, Jr.	*
Department of Justice	Attorney General	Vincent F. Frazer	*
Office of Management & Budget	Director	Debra Gottlieb	*
Department of Education	Commissioner	LaVerne Terry, Ph.D.	*
Department of Public Works	Commissioner	Darryl A. Smalls	*
Department of Sports, Parks & Recreation	Commissioner	St. Claire N. Williams	*
Department of Police	Commissioner	Novelle E. Francis, Jr.	*
Department of Property & Procurement	Commissioner	Lynn A. Millin Maduro	*
Department of Tourism	Commissioner	Beverly Nicholson Doty	*
Department of Agriculture	Commissioner	Dr. Louis E. Petersen, Jr.	*
Department of Labor	Commissioner	Albert Bryan, Jr.	*
Department of Health	Commissioner	Julia Sheen-Aaron	*
Department of Human Services	Commissioner	Christopher E. Finch	*
Department of Planning & Natural Resources	Commissioner, (acting)	Alicia Barnes	*
Department of Licensing & Consumer Affairs	Commissioner	Wayne L. Biggs, Jr.	*
Division of Personnel	Commissioner	Kenneth Hermon, Jr.	*
Office of Collective Bargaining	Director	Valdemar Hill, Jr.	*
Internal Revenue Bureau	Director	Claudette Watson-Anderson	*
Department of Fire Services	Director, (acting)	Steve Brow	*
National Guard	Adjutant General	Gen. Renaldo Rivera	*
VITEMA	Director, (designee)	Elton Lewis	*
Inspector General	Inspector General	Steven G. van Beverhoudt	*
Department of Veteran's Affairs	Director	Morris D. Moorehead	*
Economic Development Authority	Chief Executive Officer	Percival Clouden	*
Bureau of Economic Research	Director	Lauritz Mills	*
Motor Vehicle Bureau	Director	Jerris T. Browne	*

Legislative branch

The Virgin Islands's territorial legislature is the 15-member Legislature of the Virgin Islands. The body is unicameral and comprises seven Senators from the district of Saint Croix, seven Senators from the district of Saint Thomas and Saint John, and one Senator at-large (who must be a resident of Saint John). They are elected for a two-year term to the territorial legislature.

Political parties and elections

For other political parties see List of political parties in the U.S. Virgin Islands. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 Summary of the 7 and 21 November 2006 U.S. Virgin Islands gubernatorial election results

Candidates	Votes 1st round	%	Votes 2nd round	%
John de Jongh - Democratic Party	15,914	49.33%	16,644	57.30%
Kenneth Mapp - Independent	8,756	27.14%	12,402	42.70%
Adlah Donastorg - Independent	7,580	23.49%	-	-
Write In	13	0.04%	-	-
Total	32,263	100.00%	29,046	100.00%
Source: Electoral System of the Virgin Islands [1], [2]

 Summary of the 4 November 2004 U.S. Virgin Islands Senate election results

	Votes	%	Seats
Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands		.	10
Independent Citizens Movement		.	4
Non-partisans			1
Total (turnout  %)			15
Source: WSTA Lucky 13 Radio

The Virgin Islands elects one non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives; election last held 7 November 2006); results: Donna M. Christian-Christensen (Democrat) 62%, Warren B. Mosler (Independent) 37%,

Judicial branch

The U.S. Virgin Islands has a District Court, a Supreme Court and a Superior Court. Judges on the District Court are appointed by the President and Judges on the Supreme Court and Superior Court are appointed by the governor.

Administrative divisions

There are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the U.S. Government, but there are three islands at the second order; Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas.