The prime minister of the Bahamas is the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

. The prime minister is formally appointed into office by the

governor-general of the Bahamas Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

, who represents

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

, the King of the Bahamas (the Bahamian

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

). The following article contains a list of prime ministers of the Bahamas, from the establishment of the position of chief minister of the Bahamas Islands in 1955 to the present day.

Constitutional basis

Under section 72 of the Constitution of the Bahamas, the

Governor-General of the Bahamas Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

must appoint "the member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

who is the leader of the party which commands the support of the majority of the members of that House". In the event of a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

, the governor-general should appoint the member who is "most likely to command the support of the majority of members of that House".

Official oath of office

Office of the Prime Minister

The prime minister of the Bahamas is the head of the

government of the Bahamas A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. The duties of the prime minister include: * Office of the Prime Minister * Department of Lands and Surveys * Government Printing Department * Department of Statistics * Bahamas Information Services * National Economic Council * Promotion and facilitation of investment * Development in the Family Islands Agencies under the prime minister include: * Department of Lands and Surveys * Lands and Surveying * Acquiring Land * Department of Local Government * Relations with Local Government Agencies * Local improvement associations

List of heads of government of the Bahamas (1955–present)

;Political parties

Chief minister of the Bahamas Islands (1955–1964)

Premiers of the Bahamas Islands (1964–1969)

Prime minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Islands (1969–1973)

Prime ministers of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (1973–present)

Timeline

This is a graphical lifespan timeline of prime ministers of the Bahamas. They are listed in order of office (Ingraham and Christie are shown in order of their first premierships).

Deputy prime ministers

The position was formally established on 20 February 1968. * Arthur Dion "A.D" Hanna 1968–1984 * Clement T. Maynard 1985–1992 * Orville Turnquest 1992–1995 * Frank Watson 1995–2002 * Cynthia A. Pratt 2002–2007 * Brent Symonette 2007–2012 * Philip Davis 2012–2017 * Peter Turnquest 2017–2020 * Desmond Bannister 2020–2021 * Chester Cooper 2021–present

References

*http://www.rulers.org/rulb1.html#bahamas *https://web.archive.org/web/20041017033939/http://www.hk-bahamas.de/en/parties.php *http://www.politicalresources.net/bahamas.htm *''Guinness Book of Kings Rulers & Statesmen, Clive Carpenter, Guinness Superlatives Ltd'' {{Prime ministers

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Heads of government In the executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...