Moore: We need to get FNM supporters motivated again
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Free National Movement (FNM) founding father Maurice Moore said yesterday he hopes to meet with the three Grand Bahama MPs seeking to vie for leadership at the FNM’s November 27 leadership convention.
Following the party’s crushing defeat at the election polls and after weeks of playing coy, former Prime Minister and FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis announced that he will not seek reelection as leader.
Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis and East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson have announced that they will vie for the position.
Eyewitness News understands that MARCO City MP Michael Pintard is also expected to officially announce his bid this week.
The party will only vote on the new leader, while Peter Turnquest will stay on as deputy leader of the party.
Moore noted that this will be the first time in the party’s history that a Grand Bahama MP will hold the party’s leadership.
“I’m going to have to have a meeting with the three of them. Only one can be leader,” he said.
“…Perhaps I may still be able to ask them to put it off and deal with it at the convention, but barring that, I’ll see what I could do to get the cooperation of the three of them and we can decide on one.”
Moore said he also hopes to include the outgoing FNM leader and even former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in that meeting to discuss the way forward for the party.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) swept the 2021 General Election, securing 32 out of the 39 seats and unseating the 35-seat Minnis administration.
The FNM secured just seven seats in Parliament, including Minnis in Killarney; Pintard in Marco City; Lewis in Central Grand Bahama; Thompson in East Grand Bahama; Adrian White in St Anne’s; Shanendon Cartwright in St Barnabas; and Adrian Gibson in Long Island.
The party has not held a convention since 2016, when former Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner and former Elizabeth MP Dr Duane Sands challenged Minnis for leadership.
In the days leading up to the September 16 polls, Moore expressed his support for Minnis, suggesting that the former prime minister has done more for The Bahamas than any other prime minister.
His comments came after Ingraham endorsed Sands ahead of the election and expressed hopes to see Sands as prime minister one day.
It remains unclear whether Sands will offer himself for the leadership post or any other position in the party’s frontline politics.
Meanwhile, Moore said the FNM has a lot of work to do to reenergize its base.
“The majority of our party supporters who were registered did not come out and, in my opinion, just didn’t want to vote,” he said.
“We need to get them motivated again, get them committed to the objectives of our party. We could do that between now and the convention.”
