(L-R) Hon Marlon A. Penn (R8), Chairman of the National Democratic Party and Hon Melvin M. Turnbull, Deputy Chairman of the National Democratic Party. Photo: NDP/Government of the Virgin Islands

Host of Honestly Speaking, Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline has said the membership of the National Democratic Party (NDP) made the second-best decision during their internal elections on April 18, 2026. Photo: Facebook

The NDP held a special convention on Saturday, April 18, 2026, to elect its leadership, with Hon Marlon A. Penn (R8) emerging victorious for the Chairmanship of the party over former legislator Mark H. Vanterpool and Hon Ronnie W. Skelton (AL). 

During the April 21, 2026, airing of his show titled ‘We will not be fooled again, Part 3’, Skelton-Cline said, “Hon Mark Vanterpool didn’t win, no matter how hard he tried, and it looked like he did not know that it was possible for him not to win…Hon Ronnie W. Skelton couldn’t win, and he couldn’t win because he wasn’t trying to.”

Hon Penn, he said, won because he “mobilised a team and he was all through the place”. 

Old guards sidelined

Hon Penn won the Chairmanship with 65 votes to Vanterpool’s 29 votes and Hon Skelton’s 17 votes. 

“What this tells me is that the National Democratic Party resoundingly rejected and sidelined the old guards; that’s what those numbers say. Just like there is a new world order coming into existence, the old era of the National Democratic Party is no more.”

He added that the NDP is a new party under Hon Penn and Hon Turnbull’s leadership. 

Skelton-Cline, however, said he thought “wisdom would have prevailed” during the NDP’s election, where Hon Skelton would have been “pushed forward” though he was not “pushing himself” for the sake of “name, credibility, weight, and a more prepared person to meet the moment right through here specifically”. 

Short term win @risk of losing battle

The NDP membership instead opted for what he described as a short-term win of a battle at the very high risk of losing the war. He added that he thinks that move was “unwise”. 

Since wisdom did not prevail, Skelton-Cline continued the second-best thing happened instead. 

“They sat down, Hon Mark Vanterpool and Hon Walwyn, at the internal level, so that this country will not have to fight that fight in a general election, that’s the second best thing that could have happened, and I think that’s important, I think that’s noteworthy.”

Skelton-Cline added that now that Hon Penn and Hon Turnbull are in charge, the question for the country to answer is: “Do you believe that Hon Penn and Hon Turnbull have what it takes to be the answer to the question that ails this country?”

“That’s the question that you are going to answer,” he said.