The Bahamas is governed under a parliamentary system, and a mostly ceremonial governor-general is appointed by the British monarch as head of state.

The prime minister is head of government and is appointed by the governor-general; the office is usually held by the leader of the largest party in Parliament or the head of a parliamentary coalition. In September 2021, Philip Davis became prime minister after the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won that month’s parliamentary election.

Members of the lower chamber of the bicameral Parliament, the 39-member House of Assembly, are directly elected to five-year terms. The 16 members of the Senate are appointed for five-year terms by the governor-general based on recommendations made by the prime minister and the opposition leader.

The PLP won 32 House of Assembly seats in the September 2021 elections, defeating the ruling Free National Movement (FNM). The Coalition of Independents and the Democratic National Alliance respectively won over 6 and 1 percent of the vote but won no seats. Turnout stood at 65 percent, a relatively low figure. Organization of American States (OAS) monitors praised the electoral process and COVID-19-related protocols.

The electoral process is regulated by the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) and generally well managed by the Parliamentary Registration Department. The parliamentary commissioner heads the department and is appointed by the governor-general acting on the recommendation of the prime minister after consultation with the opposition leader.

After the PEA was amended in 2020, electoral authorities implemented a continuous voter register, which was used in the 2021 polls. In its postelectoral report, the OAS warned that individuals who were not included in the 2017 voter list or who did not register by the August 2021 election announcement may have been disenfranchised. The OAS reiterated prior calls to digitize voter registration and issue campaign-finance regulations.

Political parties organize freely and operate unhindered. However, as electoral financing is not regulated, there is no legal obligation to disclose funding sources and no limit on campaign spending.

Opposition parties operate without undue interference. Political power has alternated between the PLP and the FNM since the country achieved independence in 1973.

Voters and candidates are generally able to exercise their political choices freely. However, a lack of campaign-finance regulations leaves open avenues for the outsized role of money in politics.

Only citizens may vote, and protracted citizenship and naturalization proceedings make achieving citizenship difficult for children born in The Bahamas to foreign parents. This predominantly affects children of Haitian immigrants.

Women are politically underrepresented. In its 2021 postelectoral report, the OAS noted that women do not often seek office, in part due to “gendered perceptions of politics” and social pressure. The OAS nevertheless noted an increase in women candidates. Seven women won House of Assembly seats. Four women were appointed to the Senate. Women additionally serve as speakers of both houses.

Openly LGBT+ people are not overtly represented in politics.

Freely elected officials are generally unhindered in determining policy.

Anticorruption mechanisms are relatively weak. There is no agency specifically empowered to handle allegations of government corruption. Rates of reporting corruption are low, as whistleblowers fear retaliation. The PLP vowed to establish an independent anticorruption body and an ombudsman after taking power but did not do so by the end of 2022.

In June 2022, FNM parliamentarian Adrian Gibson was charged with abuse of power while he served as chairman of the WSC. Gibson had stepped down as chairman in 2021 after facing allegations of misconduct. His trial is expected to begin in 2023.

Government procurement processes lack transparency, and political parties and campaigns are not required to disclose their finances. Legislators and other high-ranking public officials must disclose their income and assets annually under the Public Disclosure Act but often fail to submit the required information on time, without penalty.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2019 aims to improve transparency of public-sector spending. The FRA created an independent oversight and enforcement body, the Fiscal Responsibility Council. The Public Procurement Act (PPA), which is meant to ensure transparency in government contracts, took effect in 2021. In October 2022, Prime Minister Davis tabled a new bill to replace the PPA, calling it “deficient.”

The Bahamian government faced criticism over the collapse of FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange that filed for bankruptcy in the United States in November 2022. FTX collapsed after a press report suggested that chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried used FTX’s cryptocurrency as collateral in other loans, prompting customers to withdraw from the exchange. In early November, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) called on the national police to investigate FTX over concerns that it was mismanaging assets in a manner that amounted to a crime. In December, the SCB disclosed that it had seized FTX assets worth $3.5 billion in November and said it would return those assets to creditors and customers. The firm’s lawyers accused Bahamian regulators of colluding with Bankman-Fried to impact bankruptcy proceedings. The government in Nassau, meanwhile, vehemently objected to criticism of its conduct regarding FTX.

Press freedom in The Bahamas is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected in practice. Privately owned newspapers and radio broadcasters freely express a variety of views, although partisanship is common. Libel is a rarely enforced criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison.

Religious freedom is generally respected.

Academic institutions are generally free from political pressure and other interference.

People can freely express their views without fear of retribution or surveillance. However, ordinary Bahamians can face libel charges.

Freedom of assembly is constitutionally protected and is respected in practice.

Prince William and Princess Catherine of the United Kingdom visited The Bahamas in March 2022; protesters called for reparations for slavery during that visit. In October, Lincoln Bain, leader of the Coalition of Independents, and eight supporters were arrested after police tried to move their protest away from the steps of Parliament, which the protesters allegedly resisted.

Freedom of association is generally protected, and a variety of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operate in the country. A 2019 NGO registration law required NGOs to declare sources of contributions and donations and account for annual income and expenditures.

Labor, business, and professional organizations are generally free from government interference. Unions have the right to strike, and collective bargaining is prevalent.

The judicial system is headed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, with the additional right of appeal to the London-based Privy Council under certain circumstances.

The Bahamian judiciary is independent. In 2021, the Bahamas Bar Association called for legislation to better codify judicial independence. The Inter-American Development Bank has suggested separating the public prosecutor and attorney general’s offices to ensure independence.

Due process in civil and criminal matters generally prevails. However, the government only appoints counsel to defendants in capital cases, leaving some people without legal representation.

Homicide and violent crime rates in The Bahamas remain among the highest in the Caribbean. In August 2022, Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said there were 85 murders over the year to date, a 21 percent increase over the same period in 2021. However, state security agents generally do not engage in the illegal use of force against civilians, and the population is not threatened by large-scale violence or insurgencies. Prison conditions, meanwhile, are poor.

The constitution does not prohibit discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. LGBT+ people continue to report discrimination in employment and housing. LGBT+ advocates celebrated the country’s third annual Pride week in October 2022.

Harsh immigration policies enacted in 2014 target Haitian-Bahamians and Haitian migrants, requiring them to carry a passport and residency permits. The government prioritizes Bahamian citizens for hiring, land grants, and shelter in hurricane relief centers, and has pursued removal of shantytowns that primarily house migrants.

The freedom of movement is protected. Migrants and Haitian-Bahamians’ ability to move freely is affected by their lack of Bahamian identity documents, however.

Roadblocks have been erected as part of immigration enforcement actions.

The country has a strong private sector, and the economy relies mostly on tourism and financial services. Individuals are free to establish businesses.

The government has worked to dismantle shantytowns in recent years. In 2021, a Supreme Court judge expanded an existing injunction to prohibit the dismantlement of any unregulated community in Abaco. In October 2022, Attorney General Pinder said the government was preparing contempt proceedings over structures that were erected in Abaco in apparent violation of that injunction. That same month, the Spanish Wells Commonage Committee announced a one-year construction ban in the Blackwood shantytown.

The government does not place explicit restrictions on social freedoms. However, the constitution distinguishes between Bahamian men and women in the transmission of citizenship to a spouse or child, resulting in distinctions in treatment of married Bahamian women’s children and their foreign-born husbands.

In a 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the granting of Bahamian citizenship to a Bahamian-born child regardless of the gender or marital status of their Bahamian parent. The Court of Appeal upheld that ruling in 2021. The former FNM government vowed to appeal to the Privy Council. In August 2022, Pinder said the incumbent PLP government would legislate to allow men and women to pass citizenship onto children.

Violence against women, including domestic violence and marital rape, is a serious issue. Same-sex marriage is not legalized.

The Bahamas is a source, destination, and transit country for forced labor and sexual exploitation. According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2022, the government made significant efforts to address trafficking. Migrant workers, many of whom arrive in The Bahamas to work in the agricultural sector and in domestic services, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.