On reflecting on elections in Anguilla, the following facts came to mind:
1. The 2015 general election was the twelfth held in Anguilla since the island was granted its own legislature, and electoral system, under the Anguilla (Administration) Order 1971. The first general election was held in 1972. It was won by Ronald Webster’s PPP.
2. The 2015 general election was the first time since 1984 (when Albena Lake-Hodge last won the seat in the Electoral District of Valley South) that women have been elected to the House of Assembly.
3. 2015 is the first time in the history of the House of Assembly that three of its seven elected members are women. (The previous highest number of women elected to the House, at a general election, were two: Idalia Gumbs and Albena Lake-Hodge, in 1976.)
5. Palmavon Webster (Independent), the 2015 winner of the seat in the Electoral District of Island Harbour, is the first woman to be appointed to the position of Leader of the Opposition.
6. When the AUF won 6 of the 7 seats it contested in the 2015 election – it was the first political party to do so since 1980 (35 years ago) when the AUM led by Ronald Webster won 6 of the 7 seats it contested.
7. By losing all seven seats it contested – in the 2015 election – the AUM, led by Dr Ellis Webster, became the first political party to be so heavily defeated in a general election.
8. The first incumbent candidate ever defeated in District 1 (Island Harbour) was Othlyn Vanterpool; and the first incumbent candidate ever defeated in District 2 (Sandy Hill) was Jerome Roberts. (No incumbent candidate has ever been defeated in District 5 (Road North).)
9. The 2015 general election was the first in which all members of a political party lost their deposits. (All three members of the DOVE party, led by Sutcliffe Hodge, failed to poll more than one-eighth of the valid ballots cast in their respective constituencies.)
10. Following the 2015 AUF’s victory, Victor Banks (age 67) became the oldest person to be appointed Chief Minister – on taking up the position for the first time. (In 1981, Banks – at age 33 – was the youngest person to be appointed a Minister of Government. And now, 34 years later, he assumes the office of Chief Minister.)
11. In 2015, Victor Banks equaled Hubert Hughes’ record of contesting the most elections in Anguilla. They both contested 10. Hughes won 9 and lost one (in 1981); and Banks won 8 (inclusive of a by-election in 1985) and lost two (in 1984 and 2010).
12. When Hubert Hughes did not contest the 2015 general election, it was first time since 1976 (in 39 years) that his name did not appear on a ballot paper in an election in Anguilla.
13. In 2015 – in the Electoral District of Road North – the one vote by which Evalie Bradley (AUF) won Patrick Hanley (AUM) was the narrowest margin of victory in an election in Anguilla. The previous narrowest margin was two, in 1981, when John Hodge (ANA) beat Albert Hughes (AUM) – 72 to 70 in the Electoral District of West End. Evans Richardson (APP), the third candidate, polled 55 votes.
14. The highest number of votes polled by a winning candidate in the 2015 election was 1,057 by Victor Banks (AUF) in the Electoral District of Valley South; and the lowest polled by a winning candidate in the said election was 389 by Cardigan Connor (AUF) in the Electoral District of West End. (The lowest number of votes polled by a winning candidate – in any general election in Anguilla – was 72 by John Hodge (ANA) in 1981 in the Electoral District of West End.)
