Just three constituencies backed any of the proposed amendments

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ONLY three constituencies across the country voted by consensus to approve any of the four gender equality bills proposed in Tuesday’s Constitutional Referendum, according to unofficial results released by the Bahamas Parliamentary Registration Department yesterday.

St Anne’s, with 1,205 yes votes to 1,078 no votes, Montagu, 1,315 to 1,130, and Central and South Abaco, 737 to 591, supported the passage of Bill one, which sought to give Bahamian women married to foreign men the right to pass on their Bahamian citizenship to any child of that union no matter where that child is born.

Moreover, Killarney, with 12 of its 13 polling stations reported, is set to approve the passage of both Bill one - 1,688 yes votes to 1,299 no - and possibly Bill three (1,526 to 1,500).

Bill three sought to grant any unmarried Bahamian man the right to pass on his Bahamian citizenship to any child he fathers with a foreign woman with proof of paternity.

No other constituency was able to secure a majority “yes” to any of the four bills, rejecting all four amendments resoundingly.

Up to press time, The Tribune was still without the results of four of the 23 New Providence constituencies - Fort Charlotte, Fox Hill, Marathon and Sea Breeze - with officials contending that totals still had to be signed off by presiding officers.

The Parliamentary Registration Department has suggested that all outstanding results should be made available at some point today.

Of the five constituencies in Grand Bahama, none came close a prevailing ‘yes’ vote. Each polling division in each constituency reported a pronounced defeat for the ‘yes’ vote.

In Abaco, it was a tale of two halves as residents in North Abaco rejected all four bills firmly, while those in Central and South Abaco approved bill one, nearly approved bills two and three and rejected bill four by roughly 210 votes.

In Andros, the pronounced deficit for “yes” votes in a number of the polling stations made it clear that residents were not on board with the proposed amendments.

That was certainly the trend throughout the figures presented for the other constituencies.

Bill two as written would have allowed a Bahamian woman married to a foreign man the right to secure for her husband the same access to Bahamian citizenship as a Bahamian male has in relation to his foreign wife.

Bill four, regarded as the most controversial, sought to prevent discrimination of any type based on sex - being defined as being born male or born female.

See results pages 12 and 13

Comments

sealice says...

Wowee all the majority white communities voted for equal rights?

Posted 10 June 2016, 8:43 a.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

What did Spanish Wells vote???????? ....... they are the most white of all Bahamian communities .......... just interested

Posted 10 June 2016, 7:07 p.m. Suggest removal

cmiller says...

They encourage their children to marry non-bahamians, so of course thats the way they voted.

Posted 10 June 2016, 9:34 a.m. Suggest removal

jt says...

That's a pretty ignorant thing to say.

Posted 10 June 2016, 1:48 p.m. Suggest removal

cmiller says...

Shame on you to think that everybody not sharing your view is stupid or ignorant. Yours is just one of a million opinions, remember that the next time you're giving yours.

Posted 10 June 2016, 3:34 p.m. Suggest removal

Tarzan says...

Welcome to the post racial world.

Posted 10 June 2016, 9:48 a.m. Suggest removal

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

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.

Posted 10 June 2016, 10:25 a.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

They should both resign ........ they messed up big time ..... cannot trust them with our 2017 election ......... how many times should we tempt fate???

Posted 10 June 2016, 7:08 p.m. Suggest removal

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