The number of people who have registered to vote increased by more than 12,000 in less than a month, according to recent figures from Parliamentary Commissioner Errol Bethel.
Bethel said up to yesterday morning 160,000 people had registered to cast ballots in the next election. Figures provided by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in the House of Assembly on January 25 revealed that 147,871 people were registered voters at the time.
That number is expected to increase to as much as 170,000 before registration closes.
Bains Town and Grants Town has the highest number of voters registered with 5,570.  Elizabeth has the lowest number of registered voters in New Providence - 4,473.
Last month, Ingraham said an election date has not been set yet because the government was still in the election preparation process.
"The first thing a prime minister does is find out how are we with respect to the preparation for election, what else do you need to do? Once we are satisfied all those things are done, then we fix dates. We don't fix dates because we wake up one morning and say, 'Let's go'," Ingraham told reporters at a press conference in Grand Bahama.
One of the loose ends that  government has to tie up is passing ammendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The ammendments were brought to the House of Assembly last month and passed. However, they are still being debated in the Senate.
One of the ammendments will make it possible for international observers to come into the country and oversee the next election.
Officials from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United States have expressed interest in monitoring the election.
Ingraham has said he is confident the country's electoral process will stand up to international scrutiny.
The other amendment allows students at schools in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad to vote overseas in an advanced poll.
Under the old law, overseas students or public officers at foreign missions had to return home in order to register and vote.
 

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