Constituencies of the Bahamas

Last updated

House of Assembly of the Bahamas
14th Bahamian Parliament
Coat of arms of the Bahamas.svg
History
Founded4 March 1729;295 years ago (1729-03-04)
Leadership
Charles III
since 8 September 2022
Cynthia A. Pratt
since 1 September 2023
Patricia Deveaux, PLP
since 6 October 2021
Philip Davis, PLP
since 17 September 2021
Michael Pintard, FNM
since 27 November 2021
Seats39
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
16 September 2021
Meeting place
BahamianParliamentPanorama.jpg
Bahamian Parliament, Nassau, The Bahamas
Constituencies of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas Bahamas general election map blank.svg
Constituencies of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas

The Bahamas House of Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of The Bahamas, an island country in the Caribbean. It is housed at the Bahamian Parliament Building in Nassau, the national capital. The current Assembly was elected by the general elections held on 16 September 2021.

Contents

The Assembly has 39 single-member constituencies and its use the first-past-the-post system for elections. The Members of Parliament (MPs) serve 5-year-terms. [1] [2] The current constituencies are based on the recommendations of the Boundaries Commission in 2016. [3]

List of constituencies

#ConstituencyDistrict/IslandElectorate
(2021) [4]
1 Bain Town and Grants Town New Providence 4,830
2 Bamboo Town 5,860
3 Carmichael 6,041
4 Centreville 5,218
5 Elizabeth 5,709
6 Englerston 4,923
7 Freetown 4,869
8 Fort Charlotte 4,978
9 Fox Hill 6,041
10 Garden Hills 5,321
11 Golden Gates 5,490
12 Golden Isles 7,391
13 Killarney 7,112
14 Marathon 5,368
15 Mount Moriah 5,345
16 Nassau Village 5,701
17 Pinewood 5,373
18 Saint Anne's 5,475
19 Saint Barnabas 4,601
20 Sea Breeze 5,704
21 South Beach 5,625
22 Southern Shores 5,617
23 Tall Pines 6,243
24 Yamacraw 5,268
25 Central Grand Bahama Grand Bahama 6,809
26 East Grand Bahama 6,561
27 Marco City 6,287
28 Pineridge 5,668
29 West Grand Bahama & Bimini 5,700
30 Central and South Abaco Abaco 3,294
31 North Abaco 5,108
32 Mangrove Cay and South Andros Andros 2,338
33 North Andros and Berry Islands 2,727
34 Cat Island, Rum Cay & San Salvador Multiple1,679
35 Central and South Eleuthera Eleuthera 3,908
36 North Eleuthera 3,515
37 The Exumas and Ragged Island Multiple3,601
38 Long Island Long Island 1,835
39 MICAL [a] Multiple1,392

Boundary reviews

The Constituencies Commission conducts a review of the electoral boundaries every 5 years and makes recommendations to ensure that there is parity of numbers in each constituency. [5]

The 2021 report found that three constituencies have over 6 thousand registered voters, whilst five have under 5,000. The Commission suggests that each constituency have around 5,000 voters with a margin of 500. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the Bahamas</span>

The Bahamas is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy headed by King Charles III in his role as King 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. King Charles III 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.

In the United Kingdom, the boundary commissions are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: one each for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Free National Movement is a political party in the Bahamas formed in the early 1970s and led by Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Michael Pintard and the current deputy leader is Shanendon Cartwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Local government in the Bahamas</span>

Local government in the Bahamas exists at two levels: 32 districts and 41 towns. The boundaries of districts are defined by the First Schedule of The Bahamas Local Government Act 1996, defined with reference to parliamentary constituency boundaries. The Second Schedule lists 13 districts which are divided into town areas. Towns are governed by directly elected town committees. Second Schedule districts are governed by nine-person district councils composed of the chairs of the town committees, and if numerically required, additional people elected by the town committees. The 19 Third Schedule districts are unitary authorities which cannot be divided into towns. They are governed by nine-person district councils which are directly elected by voters. The powers of Second Schedule and Third Schedule councils are slightly different, and the Third Schedule district known as the City of Freeport has a slightly different list of enumerated powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974 onwards

Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2024 by Shockat Adam.

Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, although there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory. An election day is always a Saturday, but early voting is allowed in the lead-up to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the Bahamas</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Barbados</span>

Elections in Barbados are held to choose members to fill elective offices in the House of Assembly. Elections are held on Election Day. These general elections do not have fixed dates, but must be called within five years of the opening of parliament following the last election. A former minister of the DLP, Warwick Franklin summed up the general elections process in Barbados as saying it is really just, "30 by-elections on the same day."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the Turks and Caicos Islands</span>

Politics of the Turks and Caicos Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby as of August 9, 2006 the Premier is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The islands are an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Turks and Caicos Islands on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Legislative Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ynys Môn (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the UK

Ynys Môn is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is one of five 'protected constituencies' within the UK, with boundaries defined by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 to be to those of Isle of Anglesey County Council where there must be a whole number of MPs rounded up to the nearest whole number with these boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clwyd South (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliamentary constituency, 1997–2024

Clwyd South was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). The constituency was created in 1997, and it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post method of election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delyn (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliamentary constituency, 1983–2024

Delyn was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1983 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom</span> Electoral divisions of the parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries, each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by the plurality (first-past-the-post) voting system, ordinarily every five years. Voting last took place in all 650 of those constituencies at the United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberconwy (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliamentary constituency, 2010–2024

Aberconwy was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Assembly of Barbados</span> Lower house of the Parliament of Barbados

The House of Assembly of Barbados is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. It has 30 Members of Parliament (MPs), who are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority system for a term of five years. The House of Assembly sits roughly 40–45 days a year and is presided over by a Speaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwyfor Meirionnydd (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 2010 onwards

Dwyfor Meirionnydd is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, held by Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru. The seat is bordered to the north by Bangor Aberconwy, to the south by Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, and to the east by Clwyd East. Until 2024, the seat shared the same boundaries with the Dwyfor Meirionnydd Welsh Assembly constituency, the latter of which still uses the borders established for the 2007 Welsh Assembly election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Bahamian general election</span>

General elections were held in the Bahamas on 16 September 2021 to elect all 38 members of the House of Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Next Trinidad and Tobago general election</span> Trinidad and Tobago election

General elections will be held in Trinidad and Tobago by 2025 to elect 41 members to the 13th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament. It will be the 100th anniversary of general elections in the country.

Killarney is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Assembly of the Bahamas created in 2007. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using a First past the post electoral system. The seat has been held by the Free National Movement and has had Hubert Minnis as its MP since its creation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Andros and Berry Islands</span> Bahamas parliamentary constituency

North Andros and Berry Islands is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Assembly of the Bahamas. It elects one member of parliament (MP) using the first past the post electoral system. It has been represented by Leonardo Lightbourne from the Progressive Liberal Party since 2021.

References

  1. "The Bahamas Election Centre". Caribbean Elections. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. "The Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  3. "39 seats in next House". Bahamas Local News. 9 January 2017. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  4. "2021 General Election Results - Winner Percentage". Parliamentary Registration Department, Government of the Bahamas. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  5. "Davis Backs Boundary Change". The Tribune. 6 April 2021. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  6. Jones Jr., Royston (7 June 2021). "FINAL HURDLE: Constituencies commission to complete report on Monday". Eyewitness News. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.