The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MONTHS after declaring his plans to retire from politics, Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key yesterday hinted that he could seek a re-nomination as his party readies its slate of candidates for the 2017 general election.

Mr Key, 76, was tightlipped over whether his constituency association had recommended a new candidate or if he would seek another term, when contacted by The Tribune yesterday.

The possible turnaround comes less than six months after he confirmed to The Tribune that he was looking forward to the end of his 40-year long career as a parliamentarian.

“It could be anybody,” he said when questioned about the future of his seat.

“As long as you’re alive, you could change your mind. I never made a concrete statement.”

When asked whether he had changed his mind, Mr Key said: “I’m not saying anything. I put my family first, God first, I can’t tell you that. If I could tell you maybe, I could tell you yes or no.”

In March, Mr Key said that this term would be his “last time” in politics.

During an interview with The Tribune, he reflected on his time as a public servant, describing a journey that he said was filled with highs and lows.

“This will be my last time,” Mr Key said earlier this year. “Forty years is long enough. So the next two and a half years will wind me down. It is time I do some things for myself. I’d like to spend the time (taking) my wife fishing.

“I have been working for these people for four decades and it is time I relax.”

When asked if he has endorsed anyone to run in his constituency, Mr Key said it was too early to do so.

Mr Key entered politics in 1977 and served two terms as a senator and chairman of the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation, or BaTeLCo as it was then called, under a previous Progressive Liberal Party government.

He resigned his post as a PLP senator in 2005, and then left the party.

Later that year, he became a member of the FNM.

He was elected to Parliament by the Central and South Abaco constituency in the 2007 general election, and reclaimed the seat in 2012.