General Election, 16 September 2021

Hurricane Dorian, 2019 

On 1 September 2019, Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas as a Category Six hurricane with winds of 298 km/h (BBC 2019) – resulting in significant rainfall of 57.9 cm (22.8 inches). At least 74 people died and 245 people were pronounced missing. The destruction to buildings led to 29,500 people without jobs or homes, with 87 per cent of the damage being on Abaco in the north Bahamas. The total damage was estimated at USD $3.4 billion (Avila et al. 2020). Due to the pandemic, rebuilding efforts were delayed; even a year later, rebuilding had not started in some of the most affected areas (Mercy Corps 2020; IDB 2022).  

Impact on the electoral process 

The Bahamas Parliamentary Elections Act was amended in December 2020 to make updates to the voter register continuous rather than periodic. This aimed to more effectively include new voters, remove deceased voters from the roll and register transfers during each election cycle (Jones. 2020). Citizens who had moved as a result of the hurricane could transfer their registration to a new voting constituency (Commonwealth 2021). 

The Parliamentary Registration Department (PRD), which administered the election, made several adjustments in response to the hurricane and the coronavirus pandemic. However, many stakeholders highlighted that the PRD’s communication with the public was insufficient and in cases resulted ‘uncertainty and anxiety among some electoral stakeholders’ (Commonwealth 2021).  

An additional constituency had been established for the previous elections in 2017, following a boundary adjustment exercise. Since only four years had passed since, there was no legal requirement for an exercise of the same kind to take place in 2021. However, the Commonwealth Observer Group noted that ideally, boundaries should have been updated again in order to adapt to population displacements following Dorian (Commonwealth 2021).  

Voter turnout was 65 per cent, a large decrease compared to the general election in 2017 when turnout had been 86.91 per cent (International IDEA n.d.).