The Constituencies Commission Report was tabled in the House of Assembly by House Speaker and Commission Chairman, Patricia Deveaux on Wednesday.
There were notable changes suggested by the Commission including the addition of two constituencies taking the number of seats in the House from 39 to 41. They include St. James in western New Providence and the separation of Bimini from West Grand Bahama and joined with the Berry Islands to created the Bimini and Berry Islands constituency.
Deputy Prime Minister and Commission Member, the Hon. Chester Cooper told ZNS News the addition of a constituency in western New Providence has been discussed for a long time. He said, “the former Golden Isles constituency and the Killarney constituency combined were about 15,000 voters. And therefore, we had to find a way to create a new seat in the middle of Golden Isles and Killarney taking a bit of Golden Isles, taking a bit of Killarney and a few of the surrounding constituencies.”
The Constituencies Report also recommended the movement of numerous polling divisions in about twenty constituencies. Cooper said, “what we sort to do was realign some communities. For example, were seeing one polling division moved from Englerston to Garden Hills that’s an area this is traditionally known as Garden Hills. And that’s an example of some of the realignments that we’ve done.”
Prime Minister, the Hon. Philip Davis is expected to lay the draft order in the House of Assembly next week which will then be signed by the Governor General.
