The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

VOTER turnout for the 2017 general election dropped just over two percentage points by comparison to the number of voters in the 2012 poll, according to The Tribune’s analysis.

The country maintained its high turnout rate with an estimated 88.26 per cent of the registered population casting a valid ballot, despite concerns over the sluggish pace of voter

registration in the months before the May 10 date was announced.

According to official figures released by the Parliamentary Registration Department, 159,150 Bahamians had their vote counted at the polls - 3,062 less than in 2012.

However, this figure does not include the MICAL seat, for which there were 1,348 registered voters, as official figures were still unavailable up to press time.

This is the first time voter turnout has dipped under 90 per cent since the 1987 election, which saw 87.90 per cent of registered voters cast their ballot. That year, the Progressive Liberal Party won the government taking 31 of 49 seats.

This year Long Island boasted the highest voter turnout with 93.2 per cent of registered voters, while Englerston had the lowest turnout at 82.3 per cent.

As of November 4, roughly 57,000 people had registered throughout the country, a number that was dwarfed by comparison to the same period before the 2012 general election.

At the same point in 2011, 134,000 persons were reported to have been registered across the country.

The following month in December, former Parliamentary Commissioner Sherlyn Hall said the register had expanded to some 67,000 registrants.

Voter apathy was a worrisome concern for some, like political analyst and professor of English at the University of The Bahamas Dr Ian Strachan who speculated that the country could experience its lowest voter turnout in history.

Dr Strachan attributed this to the lack of faith in the current political system and “weak” alternatives to the current administration.

At the time, voter apathy was also said to be one of the reasons that prompted seven parliamentarians to seek Dr Hubert Minnis’ removal as leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly. According to then Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, who became the Official Opposition leader, that move was also inspired by the Free National Movement’s failure to capitalise on the Progressive Liberal Party’s mistakes.

However the FNM later dealt a devastating blow to the PLP in a landslide victory that saw the incumbent party uprooted from all but one seat in New Providence.

The Progressive Liberal Party held on to Englerston; Cat Island and San Salvador; South Andros and Exuma and Ragged Island.

The FNM captured 35 seats in the House of Assembly.

Just over 181,000 people registered to vote for the 2017 election.