The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL


Tribune Staff Reporter


jrussell@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Minnis’ break from the Free National Movement ended in a humiliating defeat last night, as Killarney voters rejected his independent bid and closed a nearly two-decade chapter in the seat he had represented since 2007.

The loss marked a sharp fall for the former FNM leader, who once led the party to a landslide victory after overcoming significant challenges to his leadership, but spent the final years of his parliamentary career locked in an increasingly bitter struggle with the organisation he once controlled.

For months, Dr Minnis insisted he could hold Killarney despite severing ties with the FNM, which refused to renominate him for the 2026 general election and instead ratified Michela Barnett-Ellis, who won the race.

Up to yesterday morning, Dr Minnis projected confidence as he arrived at the H O Nash Junior High School polling site with his wife and supporters wearing white shirts labelled “Killarney Strong ”.

Asked by The Tribune what his future would be if he lost, Dr Minnis dismissed the question.

“First of all, you're talking negatively,” he told The Tribune outside the polling site yesterday.

“We know how it's going to go. I'm going to win. So that question has no validity today.”

By last night, as results from Killarney emerged, it became clear that the scenario some voters had speculated about — Dr Minnis winning as an independent and potentially becoming influential in a close national result — would not materialise.

His candidacy was politically significant because a former prime ministers has never broken away from a party they once led to contest an election as an independent in The Bahamas.

Dr Minnis himself highlighted the historic nature of the bid yesterday, telling reporters that nothing like it had happened before in Bahamian politics. He declared that he would become the first former prime minister to win as an independent candidate.

Instead, his campaign ended as another reminder of how difficult it is for independent candidates and third parties to break through in a political system long dominated by the Progressive Liberal Party and the Free National Movement.

Dr Minnis’ split from the FNM followed months of public conflict with FNM leader Michael Pintard and the party’s leadership team. Some party insiders believed Dr Minnis struggled to accept Mr Pintard’s leadership, fuelling an ongoing power struggle within the organisation.

Even though some members of his former Cabinet questioned why he would potentially stain his legacy, he persisted.

Dr Minnis’ independent bid followed years of escalating tension inside the FNM after the party’s crushing defeat in the 2021 general election.

He became leader of the FNM in 2012 after former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham resigned following the party’s loss in that year’s general election.

His rise was turbulent. In 2016, a group of FNM MPs known as the “Rebel Seven” removed him as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly and replaced him with former Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner.

Dr Minnis condemned the move as an undemocratic attempt to sabotage the party and accused the group of acting out of selfish ambition.

Despite that revolt, the FNM later united behind him ahead of the 2017 general election and in May 2017, he led his party to an historic landslide, winning 35 of 39 seats in the House of Assembly and reducing the PLP to four seats.

His 2017 to 2021 term was dominated by back-to-back national crises, including Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hurricane Dorian, a Category Five storm, devastated Abaco and Grand Bahama in September 2019, destroying homes and businesses, displacing thousands and killing dozens of people.

Months after Dorian, the Minnis administration faced COVID-19. The government imposed strict emergency measures, including curfews, lockdowns, travel restrictions, mask mandates and limits on gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

Supporters praised the administration for taking decisive action during an unprecedented global health crisis, while critics argued that the restrictions were too harsh and caused deep economic hardship as tourism declined and unemployment rose.

In 2021, Dr Minnis called an early general election several months before it was constitutionally due. The snap election was held on September 16, 2021, while the country was still struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FNM suffered a major defeat, with the PLP winning 32 seats while the FNM was reduced to seven. Dr Minnis retained Killarney but later stepped down as party leader, privately backing East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson as his successor.

After Mr Pintard became leader, tensions between the two men grew increasingly public.

In June 2024, Dr Minnis formally challenged Mr Pintard for the leadership at the party’s convention. Mr Pintard defeated him decisively, winning 486 votes to Dr Minnis’ 163.

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said at the time that Dr Minnis’ time as leader was “one and done." Other supporters echoed that the Minnis era was over.

After the convention, speculation continued over Dr Minnis’ political future. He later accused the party’s leadership of sidelining him, claiming he was blocked from speaking at party events and instructed not to answer questions from the press.

The FNM eventually announced that Senator Barnett-Ellis would receive the party’s nomination for Killarney instead of Dr Minnis.

Dr Minnis launched an independent campaign, insisting he remained committed to serving Killarney residents.

In April, he formally entered the race against Ms Barnett-Ellis, the PLP’s Robyn Lynes and the Coalition of Independents’ Dr Veronica McIver.

Under amendments ratified by the FNM in 2022, Dr Minnis’ decision to run against the party’s official candidate meant he was deemed to have resigned from the party.

During the launch of his independent campaign, Dr Minnis said he had been systematically sidelined by the FNM after the party’s 2021 election loss. He argued that running as an independent would allow him to act in the best interests of constituents without being bound by party politics.

Last night’s defeat left that argument rejected at the polls, ending one of the most dramatic ruptures between a former prime minister and his party in Bahamian history.