| Parliament of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Houses | Senate House of Assembly |
| Leadership | |
| President of the Senate | Lynn Holowesko since 2 May 2007 |
| Speaker of the House | Alvin Smith since 2 May 2007 |
| Structure | |
| Members | 57 16 Senators 41 Members of Parliament |
| House of Assembly Political groups | Free National Movement, Progressive Liberal Party, Democratic National Alliance |
| Elections | |
| House of Assembly Last election | 2 May 2007 |
| Meeting place | |
| Bahamian Parliament, Nassau, The Bahamas | |
The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is formally made up by the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Assembly. It currently sits at Nassau, the national capital.
The structure, functions, and procedures of the parliament are based on the Westminster system.
Contents |
The first meeting of a legislative body for the Bahamas took place on 29 September 1729, when twenty-four members representing the islands of New Providence, Eleuthera, and Harbour Island gathered together as the General Assembly.
The Parliament as presently constituted was established by Chapter 5 of the Constitution of The Bahamas, which came into effect upon the country's independence from British rule.
The House of Assembly is the lower chamber. It consists of 41 members (known as Members of Parliament), elected from individual constituencies for five-year terms. As under the Westminster system, the government may dissolve the parliament and call elections at any time. The House of Assembly performs all major legislative functions. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party controlling the majority of the House of Assembly seats. The speaker of the House of Assembly is currently Mr. Alvin Smith.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free National Movement | 68,542 | 49.86 | 23 |
| Progressive Liberal Party | 64,637 | 47.02 | 18 |
| Bahamas Democratic Movement | 741 | 0.54 | 0 |
| Independents | 3,555 | 2.59 | 0 |
| Total | 137,475 | 41 | |
| Source: BBC News | |||
The Senate (upper house) consists of 16 members (known as Senators) appointed by the Governor-General. Nine of these senators are selected on the advice of the Prime Minister, four on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, and three on the advice of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition. The Senate is authorised by the Constitution to pass Bills in the same manner as passed by the House or it can make such amendments to the Bill should it consider it necessary. Those amendments will then have to be approved by the House of Assembly. The Senate may even reject a Bill outrightly that had been passed by the House. However, if the House passes the Bill in two successive sessions, and the Senate rejects the Bill each time, the House of Assembly may send the Bill directly to the Governor-General without the Senate having consented to the Bill.
If the House passes a Money Bill and sends that Bill to the Senate for its consent, and if the Senate does not give its consent within a month after receiving the Bill, the money bill is sent to the Governor-General for assent even though the Senate had not consented to it [1]
The President of the Senate is currently Mrs. Lynn Holowesko from 2007. She succeeded Mrs. Sharon R. Wilson.
Parliament is empowered by Article 52(l) of the Constitution to make laws for the peace, order and good government of The Bahamas. The Constitution also empowers Parliament to:
Parliament also maintains oversight of the Government's finances through the Public Accounts Committee. Parliament is also the forum where public policy and matters of national importance are debated.
Most of the laws passed by Parliament are for the modification or amendment of existing laws.
Article 52(2) of the Constitution empowers Parliament to make laws by the passing of a bill (proposed law). Most bills are introduced into Parliament by a Government minister, but in principle any parliamentarian may introduce a bill. A bill must be passed by both the House of Assembly and Senate, and then must be formally assented to by the Governor-General, before it becomes law.
There are currently four main classifications of Bills: public, money, private member, and private bills.
A bill must pass through a series of stages in order to be passed by each chamber, with a vote taken at each stage. The procedure in the House of Assembly is as follows:[3]
Each Bill consists of five main parts: the long title, the short title, the interpretation clause, the main body of the Bill and the objects and reasons. The long title is a description of the nature of the Bill and covers the intent of the Bill. The Short title follows the long title and labels the Bill for identification purposes. The short title sometimes also, contains the commencement clause, which states when the Bill will have legal force. The short title in turn is followed by the interpretation clause, which defines certain words and phrases used in the Bill. The body of the Bill consists of all of the other clauses, which contain the provisions of the Bill, that is, they contain all of the measures that the Bill is enacting. The objects and reasons is the final part of a Bill and it seeks to explain in layman’s terms the purpose of the Bill and the reason why it is necessary.
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