In the second constitutional referendum in an independent Bahamas, Bahamians overwhelmingly voted no to all four questions that would have amended the constitution to grant equal rights to men and women.

It was reported that more than 180,000 Bahamians registered to vote in the referendum.

The Family Islands started the “no” trend with North Andros, South Andros, Berry Island, Central and South Eleuthera, Rum Cay, MICAL, Cat Island, San Salvador, Grand Bahama and New Providence.

According to officials the proposed constitutional amendment 2014 in question one – A person born outside The Bahamas after the coming into operation of this paragraph, shall become a citizen at the date of his birth if at that date his father or mother is a citizen of The Bahamas otherwise than by virtue of this article or article 3 or article 10 of the Constitution.

“Paragraph 2 shall not after the right of any person who was entitled to citizenship of The Bahamas by virtue of any provision of this constitution in force before the coming into operation of this article.”

Under the proposed change to the Constitution, a child born outside of The Bahamas would, after the coming into operation of this amendment become a Bahamian citizen at birth if either its mother or father is a citizen of The Bahamas by birth.

In article 10, the amendment would see that the constitution, the foreign spouse of a Bahamian citizen would after the coming into operation of this article be entitled to apply for and obtain citizenship subject to satisfying existing national security or public policy considerations and new provisions guarding against marriages of convenience.

In article 14, the constitution amendment states that a Bahamian father of a person born out of wedlock after the coming into operation of this amendment would be able to pass his citizenship to that person subject to legal proof that he is the father.

Constitutional amendment article 26 states that under this proposed change to the constitution it would be unlawful to discriminate based on “sex” which would be defined as “being male or female”.

Both the vote yes campaign and the no campaign have been fiercely debating the pros and cons of their sides.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Christie and his family voted yes to all of the questions.

He said that he was disappointed that some Opposition members voted no.

“The disappointment I had is that the Opposition who stood shoulder to shoulder with me throughout all the consultations decided that they would back down – that is the political ones – and not be up front in this matter and to the point where they may have gone against it,” Mr. Christie said.

“We anticipate that whatever the results are – this is a constitutional referendum, the results will be respected and acted upon as it is required by law.”