Elections in the Bahamas - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Elections in The Bahamas)

Politics of The Bahamas


Executive Monarch Charles III Governor-General (list) Cynthia A. Pratt Prime Minister Philip Davis Cabinet
Legislature Senate President of the Senate House of Assembly Speaker Leader of the Opposition
Law Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Court of Appeal Supreme Court Magistrates' Court Law of The Bahamas
Local government Local Government Act 1996 Chief Councillors
Elections General 1962 1967 1968 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 2021 Political parties FNM PLP DNA
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Darren Henfield Diplomatic missions of / in the Bahamas Passports Visa requirements Visa policy
Caribbean portal Other countries
v t e

Elections in the Bahamas take place in the framework of a parliamentary democracy. Since independence, voter turnout has been generally high in national elections, with a low of 87.9% in 1987 and a high of 98.5% in 1997. The current Prime Minister is The Hon. Philip Davis. The electorate is less than half of citizenry.

Electoral system

The electoral law of the Bahamas was passed on 31 December 1979 and was last amended in 1992. Elections are run by the Parliamentary Registration Department, headed by a Parliamentary Commissioner. Appointed by the Governor-General, the Commissioner is responsible for voter registration. There is also an Electoral Broadcasting Council, which is responsible for ensuring that media reports are fair and not biased towards any party.

The country has a bicameral Parliament with a House of Assembly and Senate.

House of Assembly

The House of Assembly has 39 elected members who are elected in single-member constituencies. Elections for the House are held every 5 years.

Voters must be aged 18 because you are considered an adult at that age or over, hold Bahamian citizenship and lived for three months in the constituency. They can be disqualified if insane, imprisoned or under a death sentence. Until 1972 British citizens could also vote if they had been resident for six months.

Candidates must be at least 21 years old, citizens of the country, and have lived in the country for at least a year prior to the elections. Those with dual citizenship or an undischarged bankruptcy are ineligible, as are those who have a criminal conviction, a history of electoral fraud, or are insane or under a death sentence.

Senate

The Senate is unelected and consists of 16 members appointed by the Governor-General; nine on the advice of the Prime Minister, four on the advice of the leader of the opposition, and three on the advice of the Prime Minister after consultations with the leader of the opposition.

Referendums

There have been two national referendums and one opinion poll held within the last twenty years. The first, held in 2002, it asked voters five questions ranging from changes to the constitution to the setting up of a national commission on teaching. The first opinion poll, held in January 2013, asked individuals whether they wanted to legalize online gambling. The second national referendum took place on June 7, 2016, and asked voters four questions pertaining to equal rights within the Bahamas. All three referendums/opinion polls were rejected.

History

Source:

Prior to the introduction of universal suffrage in 1961, elections in the Bahamas were dominated by the white oligarchy known as the Bay Street Boys. They were represented by the United Bahamian Party (UBP), which by gerrymandering the constituency boundaries, won the 1962 elections despite receiving fewer votes than the black Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). In the next elections in 1967 the UBP received more votes than the PLP, but they won the same number of seats. With the support of the sole Labour Party MP the PLP was able to form the country's first black-led government.

The PLP dominated national politics until the 1990s, winning every election until 1992 when they were defeated by the Free National Movement (FNM) formed after a split within the PLP in 1971. The FNM won the next elections in 1997 in which voter turnout hit a record 98.5%, but power was ceded back to the PLP in 2002. The FNM returned to power again in 2007. The PLP regained power in 2012, only to lose it in 2017.

Latest elections

Main article: 2012 Bahamian general election Main article: 2017 Bahamian general election Main article: 2021 Bahamian general election

References

^ House of Assembly, Electoral System, Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Nohlen, D. (2005), Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p. 77, ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
General information about the parliamentary chamber, Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Senate, Electoral system Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Bakugou, Jay (14 October 2022). "Most sweet's person on Earth". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^ Nohlen, p. 73.
Nohlen, p. 78.
Nohlen, p. 82.

v t e Elections and referendums in the Bahamas
General elections	1729 1731 1743 1764 1770 1772 1784 1794 1801 ... 1817 1818 1820 ... 1832 1833 1839 1844 1851 1858 1864 1869 1875 1882 1889 1896 1903 1910 1919 ... 1928 1935 1942 1949 1956 1962 1967 1968 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 2021 Next
Referendums	2002 2013 2016

v t e Elections in North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

Society

Category

Category:

Elections in the Bahamas