Turnout: 65.08%
About this election
The Bahamas held a general election on 12 May 2026. The governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of Prime Minister Philip Davis won re-election, taking 33 of the 41 seats in the House of Assembly on about 52% of the vote, against 8 seats and 35.88% for the Free National Movement (FNM) led by Michael Pintard. The Coalition of Independents (COI) won 10.71% of the vote but no seats, and independents took the remainder. Turnout was 65.08%. Davis's win made him the first incumbent Bahamian leader to be re-elected since 1997, breaking a long pattern in which Bahamian voters had turned out every governing party after a single term.
The Bahamas has a stable two-party system that has alternated between the PLP and the FNM since the 1990s. Philip Davis led the PLP to power in 2021, and the 2026 election tested whether his government could buck the country's habit of single-term governments. The campaign played out against the islands' enduring economic dependence on tourism and financial services, the high cost of living, crime, and the long shadow of hurricane recovery and climate vulnerability that shapes Bahamian politics.
The Bahamas uses first-past-the-post voting in 41 single-member constituencies to elect the House of Assembly, with 21 seats needed for a majority. The leader of the party that wins the most seats becomes prime minister. As in other Westminster-style systems with two dominant parties, the seat count can be far more lopsided than the vote: the PLP's roughly 52% of the vote converted into 33 of the 41 seats, while the FNM's 36% yielded only 8.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), the older of the two major parties and the vehicle of Bahamian independence, governs under Philip Davis. The Free National Movement (FNM), led by Michael Pintard, is the centre-right opposition that last governed from 2017 to 2021. The Coalition of Independents (COI), led by Lincoln Bain, ran as a third-force protest movement and drew a notable share of the vote without winning a seat — a familiar fate for third parties under first-past-the-post.
The PLP campaigned on its record and on continuity, while the FNM sought to capitalise on cost-of-living discontent and to return after a single term in opposition. The COI's double-digit vote share signalled real frustration with both major parties, even if the electoral system left it unrewarded in seats.
Among the night's most striking results were heavy defeats for prominent figures, including former prime minister Hubert Minnis and the FNM chairman. Nine women were elected to the House. The breadth of the PLP's seat majority, despite a vote share only modestly ahead of its 2021 level, underlined how first-past-the-post can magnify a lead.
Since 1992, Bahamian voters had removed every government at its first re-election bid, alternating between the PLP and the FNM. Davis's re-election in 2026 was therefore historically significant, marking the first time since 1997 that an incumbent administration had secured a second consecutive term.
Philip Davis was returned as prime minister with a strengthened majority, giving the PLP a clear mandate for a second term. The FNM, reduced to eight seats, continues as the official opposition.
The campaign was dominated by everyday economic concerns: the high cost of living in an import-dependent archipelago, crime and public safety, and the country's heavy reliance on tourism and offshore finance. Climate vulnerability is never far from Bahamian politics either, following the catastrophic damage of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, and questions of disaster preparedness and resilience featured alongside jobs and prices.
With a renewed and enlarged majority, Philip Davis's government has a clear mandate for a second term. Its central challenges are diversifying an economy concentrated in tourism and financial services, tackling crime, managing public finances, and building resilience against the hurricanes and sea-level rise that pose an existential threat to a low-lying island nation.
Parliamentary Registration Department of The Bahamas.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.