By LEANDRA ROLLE 

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday that the Boundaries Commission will formally begin its work on July 2, following delays and growing calls for constituency rebalancing ahead of the next general election.

Mr Cooper said the group has already held preliminary meetings but will engage more fully starting next week.

“We continue to do the work of the people,” he told reporters yesterday. “We’ve had a few meetings already. The work begins in earnest on July 2.”

He said the upcoming session, scheduled before the House of Assembly reconvenes, will include deeper discussions on potential boundary shifts.

The announcement follows pressure from Progressive Liberal Party supporters, particularly in constituencies like Golden Isles and Killarney, where significant voter imbalances have prompted demands for redistricting.

Sources told The Tribune that boundary adjustments are also being considered in areas such as West Grand Bahama and Bimini, where population growth has been driven by job expansion.

New voter registration data underscores the imbalance: Golden Isles now has 7,524 registered voters and Killarney 7,082, making them the most populated constituencies. Other high-density areas include Central Grand Bahama, Marco City, East Grand Bahama, Carmichael, Fox Hill, and Tall Pines, each with more than 6,000 voters.

In contrast, Long Island has just 1,773 registered voters; Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador have 1,609; and the Mayaguana-Inagua-Crooked Island-Acklins grouping trails with only 1,340.

While the law does not require a fixed number of voters per constituency, the Constitution mandates that boundaries reflect population size and that clear practical needs justify significant disparities.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, while in opposition, supported redrawing lines in Golden Isles and Killarney, not to create new seats, but to balance the existing ones.