By Sasha L. Lightbourne
The number of people registering to vote has risen dramatically according to officials from the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner. (Photo/Torrell Glinton)
To date, officials from the Parliamentary Registration Department have registered just over 40,000 people.
Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel told the Bahama Journal that the number of people coming into register has increased significantly in the last two weeks.
"Registration has been good since the prime minister’s announcement," he said.
"In New Providence alone we registered over 5,000 people so registration during that week was exceptionally good here and in all the islands including Grand Bahama. Last week, we registered 4,000 in New Providence so I’m quite pleased with how it has been going since the announcement and we’re hoping that people will continue to come."
Mr. Bethel said officials are working on getting the register to where it needs to be as quickly as possible.
He also noted that middle-aged people are the most popular group of people registering.
"We have also realised that the Marathon Mall is our hot spot for people wanting to register; our large numbers come from that centre," the parliamentary commissioner said.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced that he hopes to close the voter register by July.
"Sometime after June of this year, I propose to cause the current register of voters to [close] and by that I mean that I want that register to come to an end, which would mean that only persons who are registered on the new register will be eligible to vote," the prime minister said at the time.
"I’m going to give 90 days notice of that. I’m now thinking of giving that notice sometime in April so that sometime towards the end of June or July, I intend to bring the current register to an end. The boundaries commission will be appointed after that."
Prime Minister Ingraham did not however comment on whether the general election would be called before the end of the year.
"No one knoweth the hour except for one man and he is not talking," he said.
The department is projecting that between 170,000 and 180,000 people are eligible to vote.
During the 2007 general election, there were 150,000 persons registered and the parliamentary commissioner noted that in the previous register there were 144,000 registrants.
Applicants for registration must be citizens of The Bahamas, of full age, not subject to any legal incapacity and must be ordinarily resident in the constituency for a period no less than three months immediately preceding the day of registration.
"People must bring proof of citizenship with them when they come to register. We are asking for a Bahamian passport. If people bring their birth certificate then we are likely to ask for other documents, because the birth certificate in and of itself may not be proof of citizenship for persons who were born since independence," Mr. Bethel said.
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