Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie.

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC):

Bahamians go to the polls today to elect a new government, with Prime Minister Perry Christie confident that voters in this chain of islands will give him a second consecutive term in office.

Christie is predicting that his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) will win 28 out of the 41 seats in today's general election that political observers say will be a straight fight between the ruling party and the main opposition Free National Movement (FNM), even though the small Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) is contesting some of the seats.

"When the final count is taken, the PLP would have won not less than 28 seats in the next Parliament of The Bahamas, way more than enough to form the next government.

"The choice is clear. It has never been clearer. Not since 1967 have the people of this country had a clearer choice to make. I want to keep our country moving forward," Christie said.

A formidable opponent

But in FNM, Christie faces a formidable opponent in Hubert Ingraham, who served as prime minister on two occasions from 1992 to 2002.

"You've been neglected, you've been treated bad. They had five long years," Ingraham said referring to the PLP.

"You'll have one day - on the second of May you'll be in charge. You'll be able to not only pay them back, but put them out," Ingraham told supporters.

In the 2002 General Election the PLP won 51.78 per cent of the popular votes as compared to 40.87 for the FNM, while the BDM could only muster less than one per cent. Just over 144,750 persons had been registered to vote in that election and the authorities said the turn out had been as high as 89.25 per cent.

In the last election when 40 seats were contested the PLP won 29 seats compared to the seven won by the FNM and four to the other small groups.

In today's poll, more than 100 candidates have been nominated, with the PLP fielding 39 candidates, the FNM contesting all 41 constituencies and BDM contesting 19 seats.

CMC