Bahamian general election, 2017

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Bahamian general election, 2017
Flag of the Bahamas.svg
←  2012 10 May 2017 (2017-05-10)2022 →
All 39 seats of the Bahamian House of Assembly
20 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Hubert Minnis 2016.jpg Perry Christie 2013 (cropped).jpg
Leader Hubert Minnis Perry Christie
Party FNM PLP
Leader's seatKillarneyCenterville (defeated)
Last election9 seats29 seats
Seats won354
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 26Decrease2.svg 25
Bahamas general election 2017 - Results by Constituency.svg
Popular vote by constituency. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Prime Minister before election

Perry Christie
PLP

Elected Prime Minister

Hubert Minnis
FNM

General elections were held in the Bahamas on 10 May 2017. [1] The elected members of the House of Assembly then elected the Prime Minister.

The Bahamas country in North America

The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago. The archipelagic state consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S. state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The designation of "the Bahamas" can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes the Bahamas territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.

Contents

The result was a victory for the opposition Free National Movement led by Hubert Minnis, which defeated the ruling Progressive Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Free National Movement

The Free National Movement is a conservative political party in The Bahamas formed in the 1970s, led by Cecil Wallace Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Hubert Minnis and his deputy is Peter Turnquest. It dominated the General Election held on 10 May 2017, winning 35 of the 39 seats in the Legislature.

Hubert Minnis Bahamian politician

Dr. Hubert Alexander Minnis is the Bahamian Prime Minister since May 2017. Minnis is the leader of the Free National Movement, the present governing party, and the Member of Parliament for the New Providence constituency of Killarney. First elected to the legislature in the 2007 election, he succeeded Hubert Ingraham as party leader following the party's defeat in the 2012 election.

Progressive Liberal Party

The Progressive Liberal Party is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. The PLP lies on the centre-left of the political spectrum. Philip "Brave" Davis is the leader of the party after Perry Christie lost his bid for re-election as a representative in the 2017 election.

Background

The Free National Movement (FNM) defeated the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in the 2007 general elections amid a scandal involving the residency status of model and reality television star Anna Nicole Smith and allegations that the PLP's immigration minister had fast-tracked her application to live in the islands. [2]

Residency is the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place. Residency is a concept which heavily affects the legal rights and responsibilities that are available to a person, including eligibility to vote, eligibility to stand for political office, eligibility to access government services, responsibility to pay taxes, and on and so forth.

Reality television genre of television programming that documents unscripted situations and actual occurrences

Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations, and often features an otherwise unknown cast of individuals who are typically not professional actors. Reality television exploded as a phenomenon in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global success of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother. These shows and a number of others became global franchises, spawning local versions in dozens of countries. The genre has various standard tropes, including "confessionals", or interview segments, used by cast members to express their thoughts, which often double as the shows' narration. In competition-based reality shows, there are other common elements, such as one participant being eliminated per episode, a panel of judges, and the concept of immunity from elimination.

The composition of the House of Assembly changed during the 2012–17 term. Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham resigned as the leader of the FNM [3] following the party's loss in the 2012 polls and also resigned his parliamentary seat, forcing a by-election in the North Abaco constituency. This resulted in the PLP winning the seat and increasing their total to 30. Subsequently, the PLP lost three seats; Greg Moss left the party to form the United Democratic Party in 2015, while Andre Rollins and Renward Wells defected to the FNM, bringing the PLP's total down to 27 seats. [4]

Hubert Ingraham Prime Minister of the Bahamas

Hubert Alexander Ingraham is a Bahamian politician who was Prime Minister of the Bahamas from August 1992 to May 2002 and again from May 2007 to May 2012. He is a member of the Free National Movement Party (FNM). Prior to the 2012 election, he was the FNM's Party Leader and was the Member of Parliament for the North Abaco constituency. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly from 2005 to 2007.

Renward Ricardo Wells is a retired Bahamian sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.

Electoral system

Members of the House of Assembly are elected from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. [5] In the 2017 general elections, there were 39 seats up for grabs in the House of Assembly. This was an increase of one seat from the 38 seat total in the previous parliamentary term, which began after the 2012 polls. [6] The majority party then selects the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the Governor-General. [7]

First-past-the-post voting voting system in which voters select one candidate, and the candidate who receives more votes than any other candidate wins

A first-past-the-post electoral system is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. This is sometimes described as winner takes all. First-past-the-post voting is a plurality voting method. FPTP is a common, but not universal, feature of electoral systems with single-member electoral divisions, and is practiced in close to one third of countries. Notable examples include Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as most of their current or former colonies and protectorates.

Prime Minister of the Bahamas position

The Prime Minister of The Bahamas is the head of government of the Bahamas, currently Hubert Minnis. Minnis, as leader of the governing Free National Movement party (FNM), He was sworn in as Prime Minister on 11 May 2017, succeeding Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Perry Christie. This was a result of the FNM's victory in the Bahamas general election of May 10, 2017. The Prime Minister is formally appointed into office by the Governor General of the Bahamas, who represents Elizabeth II, the Queen of the Bahamas.

Governor-General of the Bahamas

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is the representative of the Bahamian monarch. As The Queen cannot reside in all her realms, she appoints representatives to carry out her duties as Queen of the Bahamas. Governors-General serve their term at Her Majesty's pleasure, usually five years. They are responsible for appointing the Prime Minister as well as other government Ministers after consultations with the Prime Minister.

Parties and leaders

Perry Christie Bahamian politician

Perry Gladstone Christie, PC, MP, is a Bahamian former politician who served as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 2002 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2017. He is the longest-serving Bahamian elected parliamentarian, representing the Centreville constituency from 1977 to 2017. He is also a former athlete. His Progressive Liberal Party is the oldest Bahamian political party, holding solid majorities in the Bahamian Parliament several times in its long history.

Democratic National Alliance (Bahamas)

The Democratic National Alliance is one of the three main political parties in The Bahamas, formed in May 2011. The interim leader of the DNA is Christopher Mortimer, succeeding the party's first leader and original founder Branville McCartney who resigned following the events of the Bahamian general election, 2017.{Arnithia Komolafe}·° was elected as the party's deputy leader shortly after Mortimer's appointment

Branville McCartney Bahamian politician

William Arthur Branville McCartney or Branville McCartney is a Bahamian politician and Barrister of the Inner Temple. Mr McCartney is one of the founders of and the leader of the Democratic National Alliance. He previously served in the Cabinet of the third Ingraham administration, but resigned before the 2012 general elections were called. McCartney is a graduate of Kingsway Academy's class of 1985 and of Holborn College's class of 1989. He holds and LLB Honours Degree and was subsequently admitted to the Bar of England and Wales as well as the Bar of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in 1990. In 2000 McCartney started his own law firm, Halsbury Law which hosts an annual free legal clinic, the only one in the country opened to the general public.

Campaign

Controversy arose quickly in the 2017 election campaign when Prime Minister Christie made the comment "Listen, its goin' so good now, God can't stop me now" at his opening rally on the island of Exuma, [8] [9] which caused a furious backlash.

The opposition parties decried allegations of rampant corruption in the PLP government, [10] [11] [12] while it went after allegations of the same thing in the previous government, run by the FNM. [13] [14]

Many lamented the descent of the campaign into "gutter politics." [15] [16] [17]

Infighting in the FNM also caused some controversy. The leader of the FNM, Hubert Minnis, was replaced as the leader of the Official Opposition in the nation's House of Assembly by Loretta Butler-Turner. Butler-Turner served, at one time, as the deputy leader of the FNM party, while Minnis served as party leader. Feuding within the FNM led to a "coup" in late 2016 among FNM parliamentarians in the House of Assembly. As a result, Minnis was removed as the leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly, while remaining as the leader of the FNM party. As the general elections loomed, the FNM revoked Butler-Turner's nomination as the FNM's candidate for the Long Island constituency. Butler-Turner then opted to run as an independent candidate for the Long Island constituency, while remaining as the leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly until its dissolution in April 2017. [18] [19] [20]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Free National Movement 91,40956.9935+26
Progressive Liberal Party 59,25336.944–25
Democratic National Alliance 7,5774.7200
Independents 1,3390.830-1
Bahamas Constitution Party 3150.2000
Bahamas National Coalition Party 3140.200New
The People's Movement 2000.120New
Invalid/blank votes–––
Total160,407100 39+1
Registered voters/turnout181,54388.36––
Sources: PRD, PRD

Related Research Articles

Politics of the Bahamas

The Bahamas is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Elizabeth II in her role as Queen of the Bahamas. The politics of the Bahamas takes place within a framework of parliamentary democracy, with a Prime Minister as the head of government. The Bahamas is an independent country and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. As a former British colony, its political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, but executive power is exercised by the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and jurisprudence is based on English common law. The multi-party system is dominated by the Progressive Liberal Party and the Free National Movement. The constitution protects freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association.

Lynden Pindling Bahamian politician

The Right Excellent Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, is regarded as the "Father of the Nation" of the Bahamas, having led it to majority rule on 10 January 1967 and to independence on 10 July 1973. He served as the first black premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands from 1967 to 1969 and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 1969 to 1992. He was leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) from 1956 to 1997 when he resigned from public life under scandal.

Elections in the Bahamas

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 Hubert Minnis.

Brent Symonette Bahamain businessman

Brent Symonette is a Bahamian businessman and Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and immigration. He was sworn in on May 15, 2017. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas from 2007 to 2012. He also served as Member of Parliament for the St. Anne's constituency. He is a member of the Free National Movement (FNM).

2007 Bahamian general election election

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2002 Bahamian general election

General elections were held in the Bahamas on 2 May 2002. The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won 29 of the 40 seats in the House of Assembly to defeat the governing Free National Movement (FNM). Voter turnout was 90.2%.

Orville Alton Thompson "Tommy" Turnquest is a Bahamian politician.

2012 Bahamian general election

A general election was held in the Bahamas on 7 May 2012. Elections in the Bahamas take place in the framework of a parliamentary democracy, which relies on the first past the post system of voting. This was the first general election in which a third party offered a full slate of candidates along with the two major parties. The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won a majority in the election making Perry Christie prime minister.

William "Bill" Cartwright was a Bahamian politician, realtor and magazine publisher. Cartwright, together with Sir Henry Milton Taylor and Cyril Stevenson, co-founded the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) in 1953, the first national political party to be established in the Bahamas. He was the last surviving member of the PLP's three founders.

Loretta Butler-Turner is a Bahamian mortician and politician for the Free National Movement (FNM) and was the Leader Of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Bahamian Parliament from December 2016 to May 2017. She was the first female in The Bahamas to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in mortuary sciences and became the first female embalmer and mortuary director in the country. In 2016 she became the first female to be appointed Leader of Opposition in the Bahamas. In 2007, she was elected as a Member of Parliament, serving initially for the Montagu Constituency and in 2012 was elected for the Long Island Constituency. She also served as Vice President of the Inter-American Commission of Women from 2009 to 2011.

Sir Arlington Griffith Butler was a Bahamian teacher, lawyer, and politician.

Arinthia Santina Komolafe is a Bahamian politician who was elected the Deputy Leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), one of the three main political parties in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas on the 24th October, 2017. She succeeded Christopher Mortimer who was appointed as the Interim Leader of the DNA on the 24th October, 2017. Mortimer was appointed Interim Leader following the DNA's defeat in the Bahamas' General Elections on 10 May 2017 when the Party failed to win a parliamentary seat of the 39 possible parliamentary seats in the House of Assembly. Founder and inaugural leader of the DNA, Branville McCartney announced his intention to resign from the Party and front line politics following the defeat. Komolafe is the first female to hold a top leadership post in the DNA and the third in The Bahamas among the three main parties, following Cynthia Pratt, former Deputy Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and Loretta Butler-Turner, former Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement.

References

  1. ↑ Bahamas Election Set for May 10th The Bahamas Weekly, 11 April 2017
  2. ↑ "WikiLeaks: Anna Nicole Smith took the Bahamas by storm". The Daily Telegraph . 22 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Rolle, Krystel (8 May 2012). "Ingraham resigns". thenassauguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  4. ↑ "Wells And Rollins Join The Fnm". Tribune 242. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "Bahamas (House of Assembly), Electoral system". Inter-Parliamentary Union . Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "39 seats in next House". Bahamas Local. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Eight Things You Should Know About The Bahamas Election Today". News American Now. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Dorsett, Sancheska (24 April 2017). "PM jokes God can't stop him on election trail". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Virgil, Khrisna (25 April 2017). "PM explains why he said God can't stop me now". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "Questions Surround Money Paid into US Bank Account of Bahamas Minister". caribbean3060.com. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  11. ↑ Virgil, Khrisna (26 April 2017). "PM says claim of son's pay is 'crazy'". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Gibson, Adrian (1 September 2016). "A Young Man's View: Wherever You Look With Baha Mar, Conflict Of Interest Abounds". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  13. ↑ Turnquest, Ava (25 April 2017). "Symonette doubts some disclosures' accuracy". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  14. ↑ "FNM Candidate Admitted to Fraud in Customs Declaration Scandal…Watch dem fall one by one!!!". bahamaspress.com. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  15. ↑ Scavella, Nico (25 April 2017). "Bishop attacks 'Gutter Politics'". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "Is it da people's time to commit armed ROBBERY? FNM candidate's general caught in high-speed chase with police following armoured truck robbery!". bahamaspress.com. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "FNMs spread FAKE NEWS on Baha Mar!". bahamaspress.com. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  18. ↑ Virgil, Khrisna (21 April 2017). "Butler-Turner out of FNM as she runs as Independent". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  19. ↑ Turnquest, Ava (20 December 2016). "Door 'slammed shut' on FNM nomination for Butler-Turner". tribune242.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Hubert Minnis going after Bahamas PM's job". caribbean360.com. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
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