Official results from the 2017 general elections have been confirmed and according to Acting Parliamentary Commissioner Charles Albury, voter participation stood at 88 per cent.

The majority of participants voted in favour of the Free National Movement, which swept the government with 35 of the 39 contested seats.

Mr. Albury confirmed this information during a press conference yesterday at the Parliamentary Registration Department, where he also pointed out that the international electoral observers determined that Election Day went smoothly with polling stations opening on time, with adequate staff and convenient locations.

However, several concerns were brought to the forefront by the electoral observers, he said, concerning the country’s outdated electoral process.

Moving forward, in due time, it is expected that the department will come back to the public with what will become of those observers’ recommendations.

“The commissioner will prepare a full report for the secretary general, which will in turn be provided to the government,” Mr. Albury said.

“Then we will assess their recommendation to determine what is feasible to reform the Parliamentary Registration Department as we move forward.”

Next on the department’s agenda are local government elections.

Mr. Albury and the department’s consultant Harrison Thompson gave reporters a brief overview of the details surrounding local government elections.

“All of the Family Islands, with the exception of Freeport, there will be elections for what we call the town committee.  Those town committees, once they are selected, will select council members,” Mr. Albury said.

“There’s a designated number of council members for each district, except in Grand Bahama. They will vote directly for council members as opposed to committee members.

“From the town committee, you are eligible to be council on most of the islands.  The commissioner indicated in Grand Bahama, they go directly to the council.

“Unlike the national elections, you must be living in the area to sit on the committee or be a council member.”

The local government elections are scheduled to be held sometime in June.

However, Mr. Albury will remain as acting parliamentary commissioner until instructed otherwise.