Could the PLP Break its 2012 Election Promise – The ELECTION CLOCK IS TICKING ALREADY!!!
Bahamians want a fix date for elections so they can begin the countdown!
Nassau, Bahamas –– Will the Progressive Liberal Party hold to its campaign election promise to deliver to the Bahamian people a fixed date for the next general elections?
The idea of a fixed election date became high on the list of things to do as Ingraham dithered in calling the May 7th Elections.
While on the campaign trail Prime Minister Christie told Guardian reporters: “We know that the English have just for the first time begun to discuss and put to Parliament a fixed date for elections. In a modern democracy it makes a lot of sense to have a fixed date and to take the discretion away from the prime minister because people are able to plan their lives, the whole country could plan better and be better prepared for election.”
According to the UK Parliament website, by law a general election must be held in the UK, and a new Parliament elected, every five years.
However, after the Fixed Term Parliament Act was passed on 15 September 2011 in the House of Commons, the date of the next general election is set at 7 May 2015, giving the British people no doubt as to when the next elections are to be held.
The act provides for general elections to be held on the first Thursday in May every five years. There are two provisions that trigger an election other than at five-year intervals.
* A motion of no confidence is passed in Her Majesty’s Government by a simple majority and 14 days elapses without the House passing a confidence motion in any new Government formed
* A motion for a general election is agreed by two thirds of the total number of seats in the Commons including vacant seats (currently 434 out of 650).
Bahamas Press wonders if the PLP is ready to begin the election clock, as months are quickly passing and days are moving fast.
Many Bahamians agreed with the idea of a fixed election date, as the move would not leave the country hostage to the power of one man.
BP is hoping the PLP holds to its election promise and set the stage like the British and Americans and remove us from such archaic colonial trappings.
