More than 200 candidates have applied for Progressive Liberal Party nominations as the PLP, crushed at the polls on May 10, 2017, tries to settle on a slate in its bid to unseat the increasingly unpopular Dr. Hubert Minnis and the Free National Movement (FNM).
PLP Leader Philip Brave Davis told National Review the significant level of interest expressed by aspirants shows many people have regained hope in the PLP.
“I think the fact that we have this many aspirants speaks to the fact that perhaps we have regained that trust,” said Davis, adding that the Candidates Committee intends to interview all applicants by the end of the month.
“It’s a massive undertaking and some of them are not as known to us as others, and so we have to get to know them and have people check their backgrounds, so it is a massive undertaking, but we’re all excited by the interest shown.”
Several weeks ago, we opined that while voters will likely base their decision on how they feel about the FNM and what it did and did not do in office, the attractiveness of Davis and the standard bearers the party puts forward will feature prominently in the ultimate outcome of the race.
Some previously defeated candidates and former MPs are seeking nominations.
Among them is Obie Wilchcombe, a longtime PLP, who served in the Christie Cabinet and previously represented West End and Bimini.
Wilchcombe lost the seat to the FNM’s Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe in 2017, getting 47 percent of the vote to her 52 percent.
In a recently released minute-long social media video, Wilchcombe said, “We are defined by our character. My life has been defined by my commitment to service.”
He added that he sees a future with a vibrant economy and an improved standard of education.
It will be up to the party to decide whether he gets the nod, and if he does, it would be up to the people of that constituency to determine whether he will represent them once again, but his message seems wholly unconvincing.
While it is important for the PLP to have some experienced people on its ticket, we believe that nominating Wilchcombe would do nothing to present the PLP as a party reformed and rejuvenated.
Leslie Miller, the former Tall Pines MP who is no stranger to controversy, is also seeking a nomination.
“I intend to run,” Miller told National Review.
“I am the former MP for the area. My people still want me there. I put in my nomination request…We just have to wait to see what the party decides; either way, I intend to be on the ticket. When I say on the ticket, I intend to be there when the votes are counted at 6 o’clock.”
Miller said there is “absolutely no doubt about it” that he will be a candidate in the next election — the clear implication being that he plans to run with or without a PLP nomination.
Miller got 48 percent of the votes in Tall Pines in 2017.
We asked him to respond to the view that the party needs to clear the way for a new generation of leaders.
Miller said, “You know what is interesting? Under Mr. (Hubert) Ingraham’s time, he brought a new generation of leaders from time to time, every election. He would bring in about 12, sometimes 15 new entrants. In this situation with the PLP, we have 39 constituencies, but you can’t have [39] new candidates.
“You need people of caliber, you need people who have some experience, who have commitment, who have a reputation for standing up for the average, ordinary Bahamians. In politics, you can’t just go and scrap a gang of people who want to get in the halls of Parliament.”
Miller said the problem the FNM is facing now is that it has too many MPs who went in with no experience in public service.
“How do you govern with inexperienced people?” he asked.
“I’ve been around a long time, but I don’t consider myself to be an old politician because I’m still relevant. My ideas, I think, are still up to date with everybody.
“I know what’s going on in the country, I know the situation we are facing now. If there was a time we needed seasoned personnel, not a whole lot of them, but those who have withstood the test of time and those who have proven themselves to be worthy to be elected to the halls of Parliament, I would think I would be among that crew, no matter who they are.”
We have heard that while Miller is eyeing the Tall Pines nomination, the leadership of the party is eyeing that for Dr. Michael Darville, a former minister in the Christie Cabinet and former MP for Pineridge in Grand Bahama.
Darville, who is a senator, has settled in New Providence these days due to the dire state of the Grand Bahamian economy.
But he said yesterday that while he wants a nomination for a New Providence constituency, he had not quite settled yet on what area.
Leslie Miller would split the vote in Tall Pines if he is not the PLP’s pick.
We don’t think he will be.
Women
Miller’s daughter, Leslia Miller-Brice, who has worked on his campaigns over many years, is seeking a nomination for Sea Breeze.
Miller said, “Leslia is my daughter, but she goes on her own accord.”
He said she is as good as any aspirant he has seen come forward and added, “In fact, I just said she has more experience in politics than all of them (the female aspirants) except Glenys Hanna-Martin, who has been around. But the decision is theirs (the party’s), not mine.”
We understand that Hope Strachan, who previously represented Sea Breeze, is no longer interested in a nomination. Strachan got 33 percent of the votes in 2017; the FNM’s Lanisha Rolle got 58 percent.
There is currently a dearth of female leadership in the country.
There is only one woman in the Cabinet, Lanisha Rolle. Her record as a minister in multiple ministries and as a politician has been far from stellar.
The same can be said generally about the current grouping of female MPs of which she is a part. Some of them appear to view their primary role as cheerleaders for the prime minister.
The PLP’s Hanna-Martin, the MP for Englerston who failed in a bid to lead the party, does a commendable job on the parliamentary and political scenes.
She has the experience the PLP needs heading into another election. She is also scandal free, and, we believe, generally interested in making life better for Bahamians.
We believe the leadership of the PLP understands that a substantial number of its candidates must be women — not just women, but women who possess political acumen, vision, and are accomplished in their respective fields.
They must not merely be tokens placed on the slate, but women who have something worthwhile to offer in terms of national leadership, and whose love of country and commitment to the betterment of Bahamians is unquestioned.
We intend to soon expand on this specific topic in this column.
Speaking of female aspirants, former South Beach MP Cleola Hamilton, who barely left a mark on the political landscape, is hoping to get the nod for MICAL, which is currently represented by the FNM’s Miriam Emmanuel.
Hamilton suffered a bruising from the FNM’s Jeffrey Lloyd in 2017. She got just 28 percent of the votes. He received 64 percent.
This could be why she does not want to chance going back into South Beach. Talk about rejection.
Hamilton, who was born in Mayaguana, announced her intention to seek the MICAL nomination in a social media video last month.
“I have been a servant of the people all of my productive life,” the former Nurses Union president said.
“…[G]ive me the honor to represent you, my people, in the halls of Parliament.”
Neither Hamilton nor Emmanuel would be solid picks for MICAL, but the people will have to weigh their options once they are presented.
Monique Pindling, the youngest daughter of the iconic former PLP leader the late Sir Lynden Pindling, is seeking the nomination for South Andros, the birth place of her mother, Dame Marguerite Pindling, and an area her father represented from 1967 to 1997. His retirement after the 1997 election forced a by-election, which was won by the FNM’s Ronald Bosfield.
Monique Pindling made headlines not long after the 2017 general election when she declared at the party’s convention that the PLP allowed the political ambitions of a few men to “dash the political aspirations of a whole people” and the party became “overcome with envy, consumed with jealousy and stung with greed”.
She was spot on in her assessment.
Choices
There is an interesting dynamic playing out in Pindling’s bid for the nomination, as the seat is currently held by Picewell Forbes, who was first elected there in 2007, and was only one of four PLPs to withstand the powerful wave that washed the party from office in 2017.
Forbes secured 46 percent of the votes in Mangrove Cay and South Andros.
Davis himself proved a formidable candidate in Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador in 2017. He walked away with 60 percent of the votes while Perry Christie, in an embarrassing and miserable defeat, was ushered unceremoniously into retirement.
Davis could always seek to appease Forbes by offering him a cushy diplomatic post, where he would be free from the demands and stress of representing a Family Island constituency that has critical needs.
A similar dynamic exists now that Vaughn Miller, who was elected as an FNM in 2017, is a PLP MP. Miller joined the party in September.
He represents Golden Isles, a seat previously held by Michael Halkitis, the former minister of state for finance, who had once again sought the nomination for the area.
Miller’s decision to join the PLP has left Halkitis in limbo. He and the party have to figure out where he would be best suited as a candidate.
Miller got 56 percent of the votes in Golden Isles in 2017 and Halkitis got 34 percent.
Halkitis has looked at St. Barnabas, a seat currently held by the FNM’s Shanendon Cartwright, who won 56 percent of the votes there in 2017.
Speaking to National Review, George Smith, former parliamentarian and a member of the Candidates Committee, decline to go into too many details about the committee’s work, but said, “We can have a good slate, unless of course we get bogged down in being overly protective of certain individual choices.
“Everybody loves Micheal Halkitis. I think trying to move him from where he is well known is a mistake.”
Smith said Halkitis ought not be asked to just start over.
“He knows Golden Isles and he knows it well,” he added. “So the problem is what are we going to do with Vaughn Miller? There’s a simple answer — run him in South Eleuthera.”
Another previously defeated PLP candidate seeking a nominations is Alfred Sears, an experienced politician who served in the first Christie Cabinet and who was crushed by former Prime Minister Christie in his courageous, but hopeless attempt to defeat Christie for leadership ahead of the last election.
Sears, who was elected in 2002 and reelected in 2007 when the party lost the general election, wants his old seat back.
Sears’ intellect, talent, integrity, experience and commitment would make him a favorable choice. The party would be foolish not to ensure he is on the slate for 2022, or whenever the next election is held.
Wayne Munroe, QC, whose bid for the Freetown nomination had been mired in controversy ahead of the last election, is seeking the nomination once again, we understand.
He got 34 percent of the votes in 2017. The FNM’s Dionisio D’Aguilar secured 60 percent of the votes.
Munroe has been vociferous in his critiques of the FNM administration during this term. We see him as a shoo-in for the nomination.
Keod Smith, the former Mount Moriah MP whose Cabinet Office fisticuffs with Kenyatta Gibson during the first Christie term attracted significant bad press, is seeking a nomination for the area again, according to sources.
The PLP would be foolish to bring back anyone who caused such embarrassment to the party.
Quality
The importance of picking quality candidates cannot be overstated.
Not unlike Dr. Hubert Minnis in the lead up to the last election, Davis is not an exciting or particularly inspiring leader, although in party circles he has a reputation for getting things done. In government, the Christie-Davis team did not have a long list of stand-out achievements and the party was saddled by the corruption perception, which we have thoroughly explored in this space.
That perception lingers.
Not that the PLP was looking good in the months leading into the 2017 general election, but Minnis and the FNM were able to seal the deal when the party rolled out several dynamic candidates.
While their lack of experience in government now shows in the FNM’s lackluster performance and its botching of the pandemic management, a few members of the FNM’s slate gave voters comfort that Minnis would be surrounded by a strong team to help prop him up.
Not unmindful of the need to portray the PLP as a reformed and reenergized party, Davis will want a slate of candidates of unblemished reputation.
He and the PLP must resist the urge or any pressure that might exist within the party to bring back anyone who has brought scandal to the organization.
The decisions the party makes about its candidates will be an important sign in demonstrating whether it should be taken seriously in its efforts to unseat Minnis and the FNM, whose performance in office has disappointed many Bahamians, who had bought into the catchy but wholly deceptive campaign slogan — “It’s the people’s time”.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/who-will-it-be/
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