From a quick scan of the overall results, I can only see one instance of a single question where the "yes" was a majority. (Central and South Abaco: Q1). How is it possible for a government to have been so out of touch with the populace and to have misread the feelings of ALL constituencies? Was there nobody in Government who could not see this coming? No cabinet minister who could make him/herself heard, or was it a huge case of The Emperor's New Clothes? And please Mr Christie, do not insult our intelligence by saying that the results were not an indication of our displeasure with your handling of the nation's affairs.

So how did the major parties fare? Here's my two cents

PLP - Badly misjudged the mood of the nation. Immigration is our biggest fear and one that always raises heated debate. Unfortunately it would not take much for the Bahamas to be swamped by foreigners - is it politically incorrect to say this? Yes, but in our case, the honest truth. But the government's attitude seemed to be....these are the questions, take them or leave them. Well, Mr Christie, we left them

FNM - Not much better. It is not possible for them to have said or done anything other than to agree with the questions put forward. If they had opposed in any way, then people would have quite rightly asked why they themselves held the earlier referendum

The Church - Decades of fire and brimstone preaching have in effect brainwashed swathes of the population about the sanctity of man / woman marriage. Although not specifically mentioned in the referendum questions, to many people this was an underlying fear of what might occur somewhere down the road. This was also apparent when a well known member of the clergy declared he would be voting No. And I'm sure that there were many, many, conversations at the family bbq or the bar or at work where the same opinions were voiced. The outside world may be changing its attitude towards gay marriage, but the message from the pulpit is still the same as it ever was. It will be interesting to see what the reaction from the churches will be if / when one of the major religions accepts gay marriage

The people - Well, we can only vote in our own best interests. I want whatever few jobs there are to go to Bahamians, and if 500 Chinese can be employed at the Pointe, what does that say about how the government views us? And what, pray tell, will happen when we get an influx of foreign men who, as soon as they are granted citizenship, would then file for divorce and bring in a foreign national as their next wife? This, and so many follow-up questions were left unanswered or not even addressed. We were told by the "Yes" side that they were not given enough time to educate the populace....well, whose damned fault is that, if not the goivernment's?

Which leads on to the second aspect.....in lieu of any bye-elections, there was no other way that the nation could express its displeasure at the government's performance over the last few years. Nobody asked us for our views on the referendum, nobody seems to have carried out straw polls prior to the referendum, and nobody ever truly engaged us. Well, for this crass attitude and couldn't-care-less about us, I think we gave them well-deserved bloody nose. Oh - and let's not forget the 101 cases of corruption, nepotism, cronyism and lies that we've been consistently fed.

The pity of all this is that a national referendum is now something that cannot be relied upon to bring about badly needed changes, because the Government of the day either badly miscalculated the mood of the nation (equal rights x 2), or just ignored our wishes (gambling x 1)

Where is Southern Shores?

The results from Long Island and Killarney are out of touch with the rest of the Bahamas; Long Islanders because of their misguided willingness to be guided by LBT, even if her very poor judgement takes them over a cliff, and Killarnians because many of them are wealthier white folks living in either gated communities or large well fortified homes. These two groups would have much less to fear from thousands of additional foreigners (including LGBT supporters) coming to our shores as newly minted Bahamians in exchange for their loyalty vote for the corrupt PLP government.

Ah yes, the classic "Blame the white man because I cannot accept responsibility for the careless actions of my countrymen" approach.

It may not be phrased in a way that's palatable for everyone, but they're right. People vote based on their circumstances. "*All politics is local*"

I do not think that Long Island can be compared with Killarney ..... I think you meant C/S Abaco????? ......... FYI: about 25% of Long Island voted and the questions were all defeated ....... The turnout reflected antipathy with PLP and LBT

Both Bernard Nottage and Sherlyn Hall have demonstrated a degree of incompetence that constitutes gross dereliction of duty; Bahamians are truly dismayed and embarrassed by the unacceptable delay in the release of the referendum results. These two, Nottage and Hall, should be sent packing as the Bahamian electorate do not want them to have any involvement whatsoever in the tabulation and communication to the media and public of the results of the next general election. Will Bahamians once again see that Christie lacks the gonads necessary to do the right thing by failing to sack both Nottage and Hall? Any involvement by Nottage and Hall in tabulating and communicating the results of the next general election will rightfully be viewed by the general electorate with great distrust. Nottage and Hall are bereft of even the most basic management skills and they should not be given the opportunity to dismay and embarrass us a second time. Christie desperately needs to do something to restore the trust of voters in our country's electoral processes and both Nottage and Hall are low hanging fruit for doing so.

I'm just curious ... have anyone head from the "yes" pastors? They are extremely quiet. More than likely they voted now the last time along with almost everyone else.