Politics of the United States Virgin Islands

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United States Virgin Islands

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United States Virgin Islands

Governor John de Jongh Legislature Legislators Political parties Elections (Sub-)Districts

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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 government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. The United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, US Department of the Interior. Executive power is exercised by the government. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Even though they are U.S. citizens, people living in the Virgin Islands cannot vote in U.S. Presidential elections.

Contents 1 Executive branch 2 Legislative branch 3 Political parties and elections 4 Judicial branch 5 Administrative divisions

[edit] Executive branch

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President of the United States	George W. Bush	Republican	20 January 2001
Governor	John de Jongh	Democrat	1 January 2007

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

[edit] Legislative branch

The Virgin Islands have an unicameral Legislature. Fifteen senators -- seven from the district of Saint Croix, seven from the district of Saint Thomas and Saint John, and one senator at-large (who must be a resident of Saint John) -- are elected for a two-year term to the territorial legislature. As with all state and territorial legislatures, it has the power the institute budgets and override gubernatorial vetoes with a majority of representatives in favor. At the national level, the U.S. Virgin Islands elects a delegate to Congress. However, the elected delegate while able to vote in committee cannot participate in floor votes.

[edit] 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.

[discuss] – [edit]
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]

Template:US Virgin Islands senate election, 2006

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%,

[edit] Judicial branch

The U.S. Virgin Islands has both a District Court and a Superior Court. Judges are appointed by the President and the governor respectively.

[edit] 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