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The politics of the Bahamas takes place within a framework of parliamentary democracy, with a Prime Minister as the head of government. The Bahamas is an independent country and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. As a former British colony, it's political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, but executive power is exercised by the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and jurisprudence is based on English common law. The multi-party system is dominated by the Progressive Liberal Party and the Free National Movement. The constitution protects freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. ==Political developments== In the first half of the 20th century, the Bahamas was largely controlled by a group of influential white merchants known as the "Bay Street Boys", who dominated both the economy and the legislature. Executive power rested with the British Governor-in-Council. The Progressive Liberal Party was formed in 1953 to represent the disenfranchised black majority and this led to the formation of the United Bahamian Party by the Bay Street Boys. In 1964, the British gave the Bahamas internal self-governance and the white UBP leader Roland Symonette became the country's first premier. In 1967, under the leadership of a young black lawyer named Lynden Pindling, the PLP were elected and went on to lead the Bahamas into independence in 1973. A coalition of PLP dissidents and former UBP members formed the Free National Movement (FNM) in 1971 under the leadership of Cecil Wallace Whitfield. After Whitfield's death in 1990, another ex-PLP, Hubert Ingraham, became leader of the FNM and took the party to victory in the 1992 general election. The FNM was re-elected by a landslide in 1997, but lost to a resurgent PLP, under the leadership of his former law partner Perry Christie, in 2002. Ingraham turned the party leadership over to Tommy Turnquest in 2002, but in 2007 he returned to lead the FNM to victory again by a five-seat margin. Among the country's biggest challenges are the privatization of costly and inefficient state-owned corporations, the retraining of hundreds of workers who will be affected by the change, decisions on ways to diversify tax revenues away from import tariffs and license fees, and opening the economy to international trade agreements. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Politics of the Bahamas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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