Bahamas election: Economy, oil dominate the race

Rick Lowe, vice president of the Nassau Institute, a Bahamian think tank, said there was little disagreement between the two parties whether the oil exploration should move forward.

“Everyone accepts it’s a great opportunity for the country, it’s how you approach it,” he said.

Christie says Ingraham, who also served as prime minister from 1992 to 2002, has failed to engineer a vigorous economic turnaround in a country where the unemployment rate stands at 14.7 percent.

Authorities blame rising crime – for instance, 127 murders last year compared with 94 in 2010 – on remnants of drug trafficking and gangsterism they say flourished in the Bahamas during the 1970s and 1980s.

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