Above: Governor-Elect Ken Mapp

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean has its newest leader.

The US Virgin Islands elected a new Governor this week, choosing Kenneth Mapp in a run-off election on Tuesday night.

Mapp’s election concluded a three-month electoral process. He becomes the United States territory’s eighth governor, and will succeed Governor John de Jongh in the role.

“I congratulate Governor-elect  Kenneth E. Mapp  and Lieutenant Governor-elect Osbert Potter on tonight’s victory and assure them and the people of the Virgin Islands of my commitment to a smooth and successful transition as our new leaders prepare to take the helm of the Government of the Virgin Islands,” de Jongh said in a statement. “We are at a time when the Virgin Islands is confronted by a number of issues and challenges that we must all work together to build our future.”

Mapp, an independent, defeated the territory’s current Congressional representative, Donna Christensen, in the run-off.

A longtime policeman, Mapp had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of the territory from 1995 to 1999 after three terms in the USVI’s Senate.

It was a landslide victory for Mapp, who received around 64 percent of the vote according to initial estimates.