The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER senator yesterday urged young people to register for the upcoming general election to vote in a government that would represent their interests.

John Bostwick II spoke to the media outside of the Court of Appeal moments after he withdrew his appeal against a conviction for possession of ammunition concerning a magazine clip that was found in his luggage during a check by security at the Grand Bahama International Airport in May 2015.

The move - which he said was not an admission of guilt and would not hinder his future political aspirations - would allow him to give full attention to his efforts to fight for a better country.

When asked his thoughts about low voter registration numbers, the We March organiser said: “I am praying, I am praying, and I am asking and I am posting.”

He added: “I am calling to this born free generation, they’re referred to as Millennials, these people who are born Bahamian, this is the first time in our history, in our short history, that we are the voting majority.

“The next government will be a government chosen by us and I pray that it will be a government that looks like us. That is made up of us and so for the Millennials, 76 per cent plus of the next electorate, please go out and register. This is our chance to take our country and we must take our country.”

More than 90,000 people have registered to vote at this point, according to National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, however registration has been sluggish over the past few months.

The 2012 voter registry consisted of 172,000 voters.

Last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie, shortly after being re-elected party leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, told The Tribune that he is not yet ready to set an election date as the pace of voter registration was still too slow.

On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham encouraged Bahamians to register notwithstanding the inconveniences they are facing, saying this is a very important exercise and is the only opportunity that Bahamians have to determine the party they would like to govern the country. He made the comments shortly after he and his wife Delores registered to vote at the Government High School in Yellow Elder Gardens.

In the May 2012, general election, the Progressive Liberal Party won 29 of the 38 seats in Parliament to the Free National Movement’s nine though figures released by the parliamentary registration office showed the PLP received 75,806 votes while the FNM secured 65,518 votes - a disproportionately small difference when judged against seats won.

The Democratic National Alliance, despite not securing any seats in Parliament, received 13,186 votes.

When asked yesterday if there was any political party he was offering himself for in the future, he said: “That is not yet certain.”

“So the answer to that is no, no particular party, not at present time, not certain.”