Prime Minister Perry Christie reminded the country last week that the next general election is not that far away.

This means political parties, if they have not yet started, should be turning their attention toward planning their campaigns.

Last week, Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis said the Free National Movement (FNM) will demand that international organizations be invited to observe the general election.

Well, it has been four years since the Organization of American States (OAS) electoral observation mission presented its report to the Christie administration.

The mission observed the 2012 election.

Another campaign season is upon us. But there are no signs the government has acted on those recommendations.

The OAS team recommended the "adoption of a legal framework on the financing of political parties and campaigns in order to enhance the accountability, transparency and equity of the democratic process".

Despite numerous pronouncements while in opposition that his administration would address the use of money in politics, Christie has taken no action.

When the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) lost in 2007, Christie said it was because the party had been outspent by the FNM.

When the PLP was re-elected in 2012, Christie said the FNM had again spent an obscene amount of money in the election campaign. Just before that election, Christie said if elected, he would ensure his government provides some sort of election funding for parties and individuals running in a general election. It was a controversial pledge, that, not surprisingly, amounted to no more than talk from Christie.

Christie recently presented the final budget of this term. It does not provide funding for political parties.

From as far back as the Harajchi scandal during the first Christie administration, Christie promised to address the issue of funding election campaigns. Mohammed Harajchi, a controversial Iranian businessman who lived in The Bahamas, claimed he pumped millions of dollars into the PLP's 2002 campaign and suggested he was promised he would get back his revoked bank license if the PLP got elected.

Christie promised to make public a full accounting of Harajchi's donations to the PLP. The prime minister never did. It has been more than 10 years since he made that pledge.

More recently, there have been explosive allegations made by Lyford Cay resident Peter Nygard that he provided millions of dollars to help the PLP take back the government in 2012.

Recommendations
Following the 2012 general election, the OAS team also recommended that the process of redrawing constituency boundaries and the membership of the Boundaries Commission be independent of the government. The establishment of an independent Boundaries Commission was one of the questions on the referendum ballot in 2002. But the PLP urged a no vote.

In the end, 65 percent of the people who voted, voted against this. It is not likely there will be any further referenda before the next general election, and such a change would require a constitutional amendment. This means that the OAS team's recommendation will not be instituted anytime soon, if at all.

Additionally, the mission encouraged the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB) to "provide access to all political parties and candidates in a free, fair and independent manner".

We will have to wait and see if this happens. And the mission recommended that political parties incorporate more women in leadership positions and as candidates. There were 18,574 more women than men who were registered to vote.

"This statistic is important for many reasons," said Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell at the time.

"Our policy makers take note first of the importance of women in the process, and the need for policies to reflect the gender balance in the electorate.

"It takes note of the need to improve the level of participation of women as candidates and as members of Parliament. The government pledges to raise the level of participation of women as candidates and as members of Parliament. A program of public education on this issue will follow."

Four years in, no public education campaign on the issue of more women involvement in the parliamentary process has followed.

The government did introduce a gender equality referendum, which was preceded by a public education campaign on citizenship-related matters.

Tuesday's referendum was rejected by an overwhelming number of people who voted no.

Legislation
There is another pledge made by Christie in 2012, which he said would help ensure a fairer and less corrupt electoral process.

Christie said his administration would prevent any future governments from awarding contracts after Parliament is dissolved.

He said the PLP discovered that the FNM was awarding contracts up to election day in 2012. Christie described these contracts as bribes.

"...We are going to take steps to prevent any government, including ours, from doing that kind of thing because it is bribery and it is offensive," Christie said.

"We are not going to allow that to happen."

In May 2012, after the PLP won the election, Christie said the government would "soon" table legislation to prevent the government from issuing contracts or giving out jobs between the time Parliament is dissolved and the day of election.

"We have been left with sizeable, ongoing capital expenditure commitments and a legacy of contracts entered into in the final days of the former administration," he said...

Candia Dames, Guardian Managing Editor

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