The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE by-election in West Grand Bahama and Bimini today will test support for the governing Progressive Liberal Party, which is fighting to maintain a seat it won comfortably in 2021 and has held all but twice since 1972.

The margin of a victory or loss will also be watched closely in the Free National Movement, where the shadow of a leadership challenge has loomed over Michael Pintard’s stewardship of the party since 2021.

For many political observers, the result of the race, which will not meaningfully affect the power division in the country, is significant because of what it may mean about the country’s mood three years before the next general election.

 “We need to look at the outcome at the end of the day and interpret the outcome as to whether it was a referendum on the government or was it a warning to the government or what exactly it’s saying to the government,” former parliamentarian Philip Galanis said yesterday.

 “The party in power often has the advantage, so you’d expect the PLP to win.”

 In the campaign’s final weeks, the PLP mobilised resources, signed contracts and touted its record. The FNM dismissed their actions as a ploy for votes and brought one of its most famous members, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, to the rally stage for the first time since 2017.

More than 6,000 people are registered to vote and can do so in one of 14 polling divisions in West End, Holmes Rock, Bimini and Eight Mile Rock.

The three West End polling divisions anchor the PLP’s dominance in the constituency, repeatedly giving the party a significant number of votes.

The FNM’s first goal, according to campaign coordinator and former area MP David Wallace, will be keeping the PLP’s edge in West End below 150 votes.

He said the party’s second goal will be carrying the 11th polling division –– located in Bimini –– by about that much.

“The 11th polling division has the most voters in it,” he said yesterday. “But many of those persons who are in Bimini who work in Bimini Bay come from out of Grand Bahama, and we find that predominantly many of them are supporters of the Free National Movement.”

He believes the PLP’s strength in the sixth and seventh divisions –– representing Sea Grape and Jones Town residents –– owes to ties Obie Wilchcombe’s mother had to Turks and Caicos Islands descendants there.

“We believe that because he has passed on, we can go back into those areas and talk to those voters and see how they can move back to the FNM because many of them supported the FNM in the past,” he said.

He said the FNM must also win the 12th division, which accounts for Russell Town and Martin Town voters and has traditionally been strong for the party.

Mr Wilchcombe received 2034 votes in 2021, while the incumbent, Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe, got 1484.

“The key for us is 1,800 persons did not vote,” Mr Wallace said. “And so our campaign has been to find those FNM supporters and to reach out to those 1800 persons who didn’t vote to see how we could get them to come on election day.”

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday he is confident of victory.

“The island is rocking,” he said. “West Grand Bahama is rocking. Bimini is rocking and the PLP is on the move and when the PLP is moving, nobody moves like the PLP.”

Today’s election could also be significant for the Coalition of Independents, which has continually attracted sizable crowds at protest events. The COI’s candidate in 2021, Stefon Hall, got 192 votes. The party’s leader, Lincoln Bain, is the candidate this time. 

Daquan Swain, an independent candidate who got 73 votes in 2021, is running again. Terneille Burrows is also a candidate. The PLP and FNM’s candidates are Kingsley Smith and Ricardo Grant. 

This is the first by-election since 2012. The governing party has won three out of the last five. Polling ends at 6pm.