FNM candidates allegedly told to “ready themselves” in hint towards early election
Pinder in, McAlpine out as FNM completes full slate of candidates
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Free National Movement (FNM) will ratify its final four candidates tonight, Eyewitness News understands.
The final four will include incumbents for Carmichael, Desmond Bannister, the deputy prime minister, and Killarney, Dr Hubert Minnis, the prime minister.
According to sources, Director of Labour John Pinder will also be ratified for Fox Hill.
He is expected to retire from the public service following his ratification.
The incumbent MP, Shonel Ferguson, has long expressed she was not seeking renomination.
Ferguson best incumbent MP Fred Mitchell with 2,444 votes to his 2,198 votes in May 2017.
Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine will not be on the FNM’s ticket in the next general election.
Eyewitness News understands the party will name Welbourne Bootle, who serves as the officer in charge of Road Traffic on Grand Bahama, for Pineridge.
When contacted, McAlpine told Eyewitness News: “As far as I know, and I don’t wish to be amongst them either, really. I will be prepared to, once they ratify, you will be assured to hear from me.”
McAlpine ran on the FNM’s ticket in 2017. He won the Pineridge seat with 2,496 votes, beating the Pineridge MP Dr Michael Darville, who secured 2,025 votes for the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).
The MP has been largely critical of the FNM, using opportunities in Parliament to vote against major policy positions and rebuke the direction and leadership of the FNM.
In the last general election, Bannister won the Carmichael constituency with 3,073 votes, compared to Keith Bell’s 1,595 votes.
Meanwhile, Minnis swept Killarney in 2017 with a whopping 4,186 votes to the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) Reneika Knowles’ 1,092.
He won the seat in 2012 with 2,434 votes, becoming at the time one of nine FNMs who secured seats although the FNM lost the election.
In 2007, Minnis won the seat by a vote count of 2,065 to the PLP’s incumbent Neville Wisdom’s 1,774.
There have been high-level discussions among FNMs, advising candidates to “ready” themselves, suggesting once again that the general election could be called soon although Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has repeatedly dismissed talks of an early election.
Minnis has said his administration will go the full term before calling an election.
Last week Sunday, he urged Bahamians to register to vote in the “shortest possible time”.
As of June 30, there were over 191,000 people registered, including 30,511 on Grand Bahama and 28,181 on the Family Islands.
The official opposition, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), completed its slate of candidates last month.
Pinder, a long-time union president prior to his appointment as labour director, joins political newcomers such as Nicole Martin, the former president of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, who got the nod for Nassau Village.
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