Bahamas re-elects Progressive Liberal party’s Philip Davis as prime minister

The Bahamas prime minister, Philip Davis, and his ruling Progressive Liberal party (PLP) have been re-elected , making him the country’s first leader to serve a second consecutive term in nearly 30 years. “The Bahamian people have spoken, and I receive their verdict with humility and gratitude,” Davis told Reuters. “This victory is a mandate to keep moving the Bahamas forward, to expand opportunity, strengthen security, ease the pressure on families, and deliver progress across our islands.” A poll was not due to be called until October, but Davis decided to call an early election to get ahead of the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, an official in his office said. The September 2021 election, which resulted in Davis’s ascension to prime minister, was also called early. That election was the first time in nearly 25 years that Bahamian voters headed to the polls in a month other than May. Voters wait in line to cast their ballots in a general election in Nassau on Tuesday. Photograph: Tim Aylen/AP Davis’s party was on track to win more than 30 of the 41 seats in the Bahamian parliament. It had previously held 32 of the 39 seats in the Bahamian House of Assembly, the lower chamber of the country’s parliament, before the archipelago’s constituencies commission – an independent body responsible for reviewing and adjusting constituency boundaries ahead of general elections – recommended the creation of two new constituencies. The PLP won both of the new seats created. …