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The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archipelago's population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the American state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.
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.
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 second 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.
The Free National Movement is a political party in The Bahamas formed in the early 1970s, led by Cecil Wallace Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Hubert Minnis and his deputy Desmond Banister. It dominated the general election held on 10 May 2017, winning 35 of the 39 seats in the Legislature.
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.
The Abaco Islands lie in the northern Bahamas, 180 miles off the South Florida coast. They comprise the main islands of Great Abaco and Little Abaco, along with smaller barrier cays. The northernmost are Walker's Cay, and its sister island Grand Cay. To the south, the next inhabited islands are Spanish Cay and Green Turtle Cay, with its settlement of New Plymouth, Great Guana Cay, private Scotland Cay, Man-O-War Cay, and Elbow Cay, with its settlement of Hope Town. Southernmost are Tilloo Cay and Lubbers Quarters. Another of note off Abaco's western shore is onetime Gorda Cay, now a Disney Island and cruise ship stop and renamed Castaway Cay. Also in the vicinity is Moore's Island. On the Big Island of Abaco is Marsh Harbour, the Abacos' commercial hub and the Bahamas' third largest city, plus the resort area of Treasure Cay. Both have airports. A few mainland settlements of significance are Coopers Town and Fox Town in the north and Cherokee and Sandy Point in the south. Administratively, the Abaco Islands constitute seven of the 31 Local Government Districts of the Bahamas: Grand Cay, North Abaco, Green Turtle Cay, Central Abaco, South Abaco, Moore's Island, and Hope Town.
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.
General elections were held in the Bahamas on 2 May 2007. The result was an opposition victory, with the Free National Movement, led by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, claiming 23 of the 41 seats. Incumbent Prime Minister Perry Christie conceded defeat in a phone call to his rival. Ingraham was sworn into the office of Prime Minister on 4 May.
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%.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to The Bahamas:
Renward Ricardo Wells is a Bahamian politician and retired sprinter who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bamboo Town since 2012. In sprinting, he specialized in the 100 metres.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
General elections were held in the Bahamas on 10 January 1967. The result was a tie between the Progressive Liberal Party and the United Bahamian Party, both of which won 18 seats. In a reversal of the previous election, this time the PLP received a lower share of the vote than the UBP, but was able to form the country's first black-led government with the support of the sole Labour Party MP Randol Fawkes.
The Labour Party was a minor political party in the Bahamas. In the 1962 general elections it won a single seat, taken by Randol Fawkes. Fawkes retained his seat in the 1967 elections, in which the United Bahamian Party and the Progressive Liberal Party won 18 seats each. Although the UBP had won more votes, Fawkes supported the PLP, allowing them to form a government. Fawkes retained his seat again in the 1968 elections, but the party did not contest the 1972 elections.
Hubert Alexander Minnis, ON is the Bahamian Prime Minister since May 2017 to September 16th 2021. Minnis is the leader of the Free National Movement, the former 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.
Dame Doris Sands Johnson was a Bahamian teacher, suffragette, and politician. She was the first Bahamian woman to contest an election in the Bahamas, the first female Senate appointee, and the first woman granted a leadership role in the Senate. Once in the legislature, she was the first woman to be made a government minister and then was elected as the first woman President of the Senate. She was the first woman to serve as Acting Governor General of the Bahamas, and was honored as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
General elections were held in the Bahamas on 10 May 2017. The elected members of the House of Assembly then elected the Prime Minister.
General elections were held in the Bahamas on 16 September 2021 to elect all 38 members of the House of Assembly.
JoBeth Lillian Coleby-Davis is a Bahamian Progressive Liberal Party politician and attorney who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Elizabeth since 2021. She previously served in the Senate from 2017 to 2021.
References
- The Nassau Guardian, May 2, 2003 – Symonette's race a non-issue - Nottage Mentions that Gottlieb was elected to Parliament, without specifying the date.
- Sabre Holdings, June 7, 2000 – Press release identifies Fred Gottlieb as chair of Bahamasair.