Bahamian general election, 2012

Bahamian general election, 2012

7 May 2012 (2012-05-07)

All 38 seats of the Bahamian House of Assembly 20 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Perry Christie Hubert Ingraham Party Progressive Liberal Party Free National Movement Leader's seat Centreville North Abaco Last election 18 seats, 47.02% 23 seats, 49.86% Seats before 19 21 Seats after 29 9 Seat change 10 12 Percentage 48.62% 42.09% Swing 1.60% 7.77%

New Providence Results Family Island Results Grand Bahama Results

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results

Prime Minister before election Hubert Ingraham Free National Movement Prime Minister Perry Christie Progressive Liberal Party

A general election was held in the Bahamas on 7 May 2012.^[1] 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.^[2] The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won a majority in the election making Perry Christie prime minister.

Background

The Free National Movement had defeated the Progressive Liberal Party in the 2007 general election amid a scandal involving the residency status of model and reality television star Anna Nicole Smith and allegations that the PLP's then-immigration minister had fast-tracked her application to live in the islands.^[3]

Opinion polls

An opinion poll was carried out by Public Domain, a market research and public opinion polling company, between 2 and 12 March 2012 that involved 501 respondents. A sample of this proportion only represented a maximum margin of error of 4.4 per cent. The poll showed that the Free National Movement's (FNM) core support was the highest at 30.5 per cent, followed by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) at 23.7 per cent, and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) at 16.5 per cent. A total of 12.2 per cent of the sample were undecided voters. Also the poll revealed that the PLP's swing voters constituted 6.6 per cent of the sample; the largest swing voter percentage. They were followed by the DNA ( who had 5.2 per cent swing voters ) and the FNM ( who had 3.7 per cent swing voters ). Therefore, the total support for the FNM was around 34.2 per cent, which was followed by the PLP's 30.3 per cent and the DNA's 21.7 per cent. It should be noted that if any of the two leading parties were to win the support of the entire 12.2 per cent undecided voters, they would win the general election. A question was asked during the polling process that went, According to you, which party will win the next election?. The results were that the FNM would ( at 32% ), the PLP would ( at 32% ) and the DNA would ( at 8% ) win the next general election. The poll also reported that 52% of the electorate was against reelecting the incumbent Free National Movement, while 55.9% opposed electing the PLP and 64.5% rejected electing the DNA.^[4]

Results

The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won a majority in a landslide election victory, taking 30 of the 38 seats in parliament.^[3] PLP leader Perry Christie, who had previously served as Prime Minister, was sworn into office on 8 May 2012, at approximately 4 pm.^[3]

Outgoing Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced his retirement from politics following the defeat of his Free National Movement (FNM).^[3] He had served in Parliament for thirty-five years, winning re-election seven times, including 2012.^[3] Ingraham told supporters, "I gave it the best I could and now I've been rejected by the public of the Bahamas...We had no indication from the general public they would go that way."^[3] Ingraham then confirmed his retirement, saying, "I am going to go back to my little law office and enjoy life with my family."^[3]

The Democratic National Alliance lost the only seat it held in the prior parliament (that of Branville McCartney, its founder and only MP) and elected no candidates.

 Summary of the 7 May 2012 General Election of The Bahamas

Parties		Total Seats			Votes	Percentage
		Before	After	±
	Progressive Liberal Party	19	29	10	75,815	48.62%
	Free National Movement	21	9	12	65,633	42.09%
	Democratic National Alliance	1	0	1	13,225	8.48%
	Bahamas Constitution Party	0	0	0	96	0.06%
	Independent	0	0	0	1,177	0.75%
Total		41	38	3	155,946	100%
Source:

By constituency

Key

All percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.

Source = http://www.bahamaselections.com/BahamasElections2012ResultsSummary.pdf

References

External links

• Nassau Guardian: 2012 Election results map of the Bahamas

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
Referendums	2002 2013 2016