The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A Free National Movement insider said he recently polled Eleuthera’s delegates and found that all seven said they would support Killarney MP Dr Hubert Minnis over Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner in a leadership battle.

But he said at least four of the seven delegates said they would vote for former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham if he were to return and challenge for the party’s leadership.

The member, who spoke to The Tribune on the condition of anonymity, can’t vote in next month’s convention because the party’s constituencies have not held party elections at which hundreds of new delegates, including potentially himself, could be elected.

The lack of such elections being held, seen as Dr Minnis’ doing, is a frustration for some in the FNM’s grassroots.

Moreover, the supporter’s concerns about whether the country is ready for a female leader have been reflected by many Bahamians as the FNM’s July convention gets closer.

“Most of the party’s delegates are older men,” he said, “and for them it’s about pride. They don’t want a female prime minister.”

Although he said he would support Mrs Butler-Turner if he could, he expressed concern with the Long Island MP’s dance around the question of whether she will challenge Dr Minnis next month.

Although she indirectly confirmed to The Tribune two weeks ago that she would run for leader, over the weekend she was tightlipped on the issue when asked by the host of Guardian Radio’s ‘Q & A: The Political Week in Review’.

“I never said I haven’t made up my mind,” she said as a call in guest on the show on Sunday. “I said I have not yet made a formal announcement.”

“Why is she so silent?” the FNM member from Eleuthera asked yesterday. “It’s strange. How does she expect to excite people and unify her supporters?”

Another FNM member, a delegate, told The Tribune she favours no particular person for leadership of the party but would vote for “anyone besides Dr Hubert Minnis.”

“He doesn’t care about the inner cities,” the delegate, who did not want to be named, said. “All this man does is cry about ‘they hit me, they didn’t defend me.’”

“I was one of his biggest supporters in 2014. I knew he was not a political leader but I wanted to give him an opportunity to grow, to learn, to unite the party. Over the years, he has not done any of it but divide and conquer.”

It is expected that defeating Dr Minnis and Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest will be difficult.

Some have said only an endorsement by Mr Ingraham of the Butler-Sands ticket could turn the tide in their direction.

But Mr Ingraham has been evasive about whether he will endorse a team in the leadership race or return to front-line politics.

“Why didn’t he tell the Guardian he’s retired and won’t come back?” the FNM member from Eleuthera asked, referring to Mr Ingraham’s non-definitive response to a question last week about whether he’s making a comeback.

“I know his mind is already made up but maybe he’s putting the pieces together,” he said.

Mr Ingraham resigned as party leader and North Abaco MP shortly after the FNM lost the 2012 general election.