At stake in this Referendum:

• The referendum will ask Bahamians to vote on constitutional changes, including the creation of an independent elections commission and removal of instances of gender discrimination from the constitution.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Hubert Alexander INGRAHAM
• Assembly: Bahamas has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate with 16 seats and the House of Assembly with 40 seats.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Creation of an independent election boundaries commission.
• Creation of an Independent Parliamentary Commissioner.
• Gender discriminating language will be removed from the constitution and if children born to Bahamian mothers and foreign fathers will have Bahamian citizenship.
• The retirement age of judges will change from 60 to 65 years of age and 68 to 72 for appellate court judges.
• The creation of a commission to monitor the standards of teachers nationally.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 309,170 (2002)
• Registered Voters: 127,000 ( approx.)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 158,652 (2002)

·         Is Bahamas a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Bahamas ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (6 October 1993)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 6 (as of 1997 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 55 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Bahamas a signatory to CRPD: Yes (24 September 2013)

·         Has Bahamas ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2015)

·         Population with a disability: 46,375 (est.)