Central America and the Caribbean > Bahamas, The > Government

View full size

Administrative divisions 21 districts; Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bimini, Cat Island, Exuma, Freeport, Fresh Creek, Governor's Harbour, Green Turtle Cay, Harbour Island, High Rock, Inagua, Kemps Bay, Long Island, Marsh Harbour, Mayaguana, New Providence, Nichollstown and Berry Islands, Ragged Island, Rock Sound, Sandy Point, San Salvador and Rum Cay
Capital city > Geographic coordinates	25 05 N, 77 21 W
Constitution	10 July 1973
Diplomatic representation from the US > Mailing address local or express mail address: P. O. Box N-8197, Nassau; US Department of State, 3370 Nassau Place, Washington, DC 20521-3370
Executive branch > Cabinet Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the prime minister's recommendation
Executive branch > Chief of state Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General Arthur D. HANNA (since 1 February 2006)
Flag description three equal horizontal bands of aquamarine (top), gold, and aquamarine, with a black equilateral triangle based on the hoist side
Government type constitutional parliamentary democracy
Independence	10 July 1973 (from UK)
Judicial branch Privy Council in London; Courts of Appeal; Supreme (lower) Court; Magistrates' Courts
Legal system based on English common law
Legislative branch bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (16 seats; members appointed by the governor general upon the advice of the prime minister and the opposition leader to serve five-year terms) and the House of Assembly (41 seats; members elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms); the government may dissolve the Parliament and call elections at any time
National holiday	Independence Day, 10 July
Parliamentary seats > Female	15%		[37th of 143]
Political parties and leaders Free National Movement or FNM [Hubert INGRAHAM]; Progressive Liberal Party or PLP [Perry CHRISTIE]
Political pressure groups and leaders Friends of the Environment
Status democracy
Suffrage 18 years of age; universal
Trademarks, residents	53		[78th of 98]
Transnational Issues > Disputes > International disagrees with the US on the alignment the northern axis of a potential maritime boundary; continues to monitor and interdict drug dealers and Haitian and Cuban refugees in Bahamian waters

Related links:

• Forum discussion > Government
• Looking for Stats on the American Government? Check out StateMaster
• Stay updated with current stat feeds! Subscribe to the Government RSS / Atom feeds
•  Subscribe to our popular Government factoids RSS / Atom feeds
• Save this page on  del.icio.us / furl / your bookmarks

More facts and figures on Bahamas, The