National

Is The Bahamas Any Closer To Campaign Finance Reform?

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Both major parties have promised to introduce campaign finance legislation but have repeatedly failed to keep that promise, despite calls from local and international organizations.

Published

4 months ago

July 24, 2025

Jasmin Brown

Last July, Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit said CARICOM governments were discussing campaign financing reform.

So how does campaign finance legislation currently look across the region? It turns out there are varying degrees of legislation.

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have the Representation of The People Act. These laws typically cover aspects that incluDe: disclosure requirements, contribution limits and expenditure limits.

However, it doesn’t look like The Bahamas will see this kind of legislation anytime soon.

Prime Minister Philip Davis, has repeateDly said it won’t be passed before the next general election.

His latest comments came on July 11th, when he doubled down saying it’s off the table for now.

“What about campaign finance legislation will we see that? Not at this time no.”

It’s a complete 180 from what the Progressive Liberal Party promised while in opposition when they made a pre-election promise to pass campaign finance legislation.

But, it’s not just the Davis administration that hasn’t gotten the ball rolling.

In 2016, four years after saying campaign financing in The Bahamas had sunken to “repugnant” and sometimes “criminal” levels, then Prime Minister Perry Christie, said passing a law to address the issue has not been one of his administration’s highest priorities.

And in January 2020, then Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, said his administration has “seven more years” to bring campaign finance legislation — something he had promised to deliver on if elected in 2017.

But, they were voted out of Office nearly 4 years later in september 2021.

That’s not the last we heard from Dr. Minnis on the issue, outside the House of Assembly last Wednesday, the former prime minister told reporters the public purse should help fund political parties as part of campaign finance reform.

“Every opposition talks about campaign finance reform,” he said.

“It must come, it must come. Let’s call a spade a spade, I don’t give a hell, I call a spade a spade. There are political parties out there. They have challenges. Don’t you think the law needs to be changed where political parties receive some degree of subsidy from the government?”

And with a general election looming, it remains to be seen if there will ever be laws and regulations governing the financing of political campaigns in the foreseeable future.