The Honourable Perry Gladstone Christie was sworn in as the third Prime Minister of an independent Bahamas May 03, 2002, following his Progressive Liberal Party’s triumph over the Free National Movement in a general election a day earlier. Official returns gave the former Opposition Leader’s party 29 of the 40 House of Assembly seats that were at stake. The FNM, which had governed The
Bahamas for nearly a decade under Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham, won seven seats.

Mr. Christie characterizes his party as “a PLP that will not only build new hospitals, schools, bridges and roads, but a PLP that will build up patriotism, pride, optimism and hope. These values must be brought
to full flowering; otherwise, we labour in vain.” Victorious in the newly created Farm Road constituency in the general election, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition by the Governor-General on April 07, 1997. He had been elected leader of the PLP at a special convention on April 05. Mr. Christie thus succeeded the late Rt. Hon. Sir Lynden Pindling, M.P., who had led the PLP since 1956 as both Leader of the Opposition and leader of the party.

Mr. Christie, who was re-elected to the House of Assembly in the March 14, 1997, general election, defeated Dr. Bernard J. Nottage and Mr. Philip C. Galanis, both former M.P.s, in a poll for party leader. Born in Nassau August 21, 1943, Mr. Christie is the eldest son of cab driver Gladstone L. Christie and Nurse Naomi Christie, both of whom are deceased. He attended the Eastern Senior School in New Providence, the University Tutorial College, London, Inner Temple and Birmingham University,
from which he graduated with honours in 1969.

Mr. Christie, an attorney-at-law, is believed to have been the youngest Bahamian ever appointed to the Senate. Named Senator by Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling in November, 1974, Mr. Christie served in that capacity until June, 1977. In January of the latter year he was appointed chairman of the Gaming Board, which regulates casinos in The Bahamas. Receiving the PLP’s nomination for the Centreville constituency in the 1977 general election, Mr. Christie was elected Member of Parliament for that constituency, and shortly after appointed Minister of Health and National Insurance.

During the June, 1982, general election, he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Centreville, and was once again appointed to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, but as Minister of Tourism. A dynamic Minister, Mr. Christie moved tourism in The Bahamas to new heights. In 1984, however, he was dismissed from the Cabinet, and during the 1987 general election ran as an independent candidate. He retained his seat in the Centreville constituency. Three years later – in March, 1990 – Mr. Christie returned to the fold of the Progressive Liberal Party, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Trade and Industry by the Prime Minister. Mr. Christie’s ministerial responsibilities included the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry; mining, geological surveys, petroleum, fuel, oils and petrochemicals, industries encouragement, manufacturing, relations with The Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, relations with The Bahamas National Trust, Andros reef and blue holes, and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Co-operatives.

In January, 1993, following the PLP’s defeat in the August, 1992, general election, Mr. Christie was elected Co-deputy leader of the PLP with responsibility for party activities outside parliament. He is a founding member of the Valley Boys, an organization noted for its entries in the annual Junkanoo parades, and of the Pioneers Sporting Club. Mr. Christie’s athletic skills developed as a member of the Pioneers, and led to his representing The Bahamas at the 1960 West Indies Federation
Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston in 1962, when he won a bronze medal in the triple jump.

An Anglican, Mr. Christie is married to the former Bernadette Joan Hanna, chartered accountant and attorney-at-law. They have two sons, Steffan and Adam, and a daughter, Alexandra.