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Country Commercial Guides for FY 2000: The Bahamas Report prepared by U.S. Embassy Nassau, released July 1999 Note*

III. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

The Bahamas is a constitutional multi-party parliamentary democracy and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Queen Elizabeth II is the nominal Head of State and is represented in The Bahamas by an appointed Governor General. An elected Prime Minister and Parliament head the Government. Since 1992, the Government has been controlled by the centrist Free National Movement (FNM) of Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham, which is now serving its second term in office. Perry G. Christie, a close friend and former law partner of Ingraham lead the opposition center-left Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). Since the March 1997 general elections, the FNM has held 35 seats in the 40-member house of assembly, with the other 5 held by the PLP. Under the Constitution, the next general elections must be held by 2002.

Both major political parties have enjoyed good relations with the business community, although PLP members have occasionally voiced populist opposition to business-friendly policies such as privatization and openness to foreign investment. No serious political movement in Bahamian history has ever advocated the nationalization of foreign property. There is little history of political violence or instability in The Bahamas, although semi-violent labor union protests erupted in early 1999 over Government plans to downsize the Phone Company. Overall, however, politics tends to follow the British model of combining sometimes intense rhetoric with courtly manners. The political issues of most interest to the business community are bank secrecy and openness to foreign investment. Both political parties favor maintaining the Bahamian tradition of strict bank secrecy, believing this policy to be essential to the maintenance of a thriving financial services sector. However, the Government introduced the Money Laundering (Proceeds of Crime) Act in December 1996, which codified many of the due diligence procedures enshrined within the 1985 code of conduct of the Association of International Banks and Trust companies in The Bahamas. Along with the Money Laundering (Proceeds of Crime) regulations, the Act reinforced the Tracing and Forfeiture of Proceeds of Drug Trafficking Act, 1987, making it a crime to launder the proceeds of any criminal activity.

The Bahamian legal system is derived from British common law and Colonial legislation, although American and other models have been used for some business legislation enacted since independence. The judiciary is independent, and conducts generally fair, public trials with the ultimate right to appeal judicial decisions to the Privy Council in London. A large legal community, most of which has received its training in Great Britain or in the Caribbean, is available to assist foreign business clients. While generally fair, the Bahamian judicial process tends to be much slower than the norm in the United States and the Embassy has received occasional reports of malfeasance on the part of court officials. There have been instances of Bahamian businessmen attempting to take advantage of delays in the judicial process and their physical proximity to gain advantages in commercial disputes with foreign firms, but there is little evidence that the Bahamian judiciary has favored local firms over foreign ones in its adjudication of disputes. The Bahamian Government began a process of upgrading its court system in 1993, with significant American Government aid.

Bilateral U.S.-Bahamian relations are excellent. The Bahamas lie along the most direct air route for transport of illegal substances between South America and the southeastern United States. The Bahamian Government cooperates closely with U.S. law enforcement agencies through "Operation Bahamas-Turks and Caicos" (OPBAT). A common language, cultural similarities, family and personal ties dating back to the days of the American Revolution (when the ancestors of many modern Bahamians first came to the islands from the southeastern United States), and the enormous number of visitors every year between the two countries have engendered an unusually high level of familiarity and ease of communication.