Bahamas Votes in Knife-Edge Election After 16% Economic Crash

• The snap election in the Bahamas on Thursday is likely to be the tightest in years, polls show, as Prime Minister Hubert Minnis seeks a second term after the economy suffered its deepest crash since at least 1971. 
• According to a survey by Intel Cay, Minnis’ ruling FNM party entered election day with 40% approval ratings versus 39% for the opposition Progressive Liberal Party. Some 12% of voters remain undecided. The survey of 5,868 people has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.  
• The high number of undecided voters and razor-thin margins make the race one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, said Queswell Ferguson, one of the founders of Intel Cay, speaking in a phone interview after polls opened. 
• The country was still recovering from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 when it saw its vital tourism industry hammered by COVID-19. Amid lockdowns and curfews, the economy shrank 16% in 2020, one of the world’s deepest slumps, and is only expected to recover about 2% this year.  

(Source: Bloomberg)