Pintard wins

Michael Pintard, the Marco City MP whose leadership campaign centered on uniting a fractured Free National Movement (FNM), was elected leader of the party during a special one-day convention on Saturday.

He secured 297 votes while Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis got 44 votes and East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson secured 120 votes. 

“I am humbled by the trust and confidence that you have placed in me,” Pintard said during his acceptance speech at Holy Trinity Activities Center on Saturday.

“I commit to dedicate myself every day to work tirelessly on behalf of all of you and to listen to you and collaborate with you. Our collective genius is always better than a single-minded focus of an A leader or a small group of leaders. We need all of you.

“That’s why we sent out the clarion call asking for FNMs who felt marginalized or disenfranchised who have left. We are saying to you: we wish for you to return home. We understand that we are weaker without you.”

He called for former FNM MPs Loretta Butler-Turner, Hubert Chipman, Neko Grant and Richard Lightbourne, who infamously removed Dr. Hubert Minnis as leader of the opposition in 2016, to return to the party.

The convention was held following the FNM’s stunning defeat at the polls in September.

The party won only seven of the 39 parliamentary seats after former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis called an election eight months before it was constitutionally due.  

The decision was widely criticized by FNMs and resulted in Minnis stepping down as party leader.

The FNM will hold another convention in February to address party business and elect individuals to other senior leadership roles.

Pintard said the party will convene a conclave after that convention to share its post-mortem of the 2021 general election “so that we can go beyond on the anecdotal evidence that we have in terms of what went wrong”. 

“We are going to commission the studies to be done, which will be ready in time for February,” he said.

“We will discuss that post-mortem. We will plan the way forward.

“And then, of course, there is a need for healing — healing after this contest, healing after the election — and so we’re going to facilitate workshops so that those members of our organization who need really to be healed can come together.”

Pintard noted that the FNM has made some mistakes.

“We had some unforced errors,” he said.

“The truth is sometimes we didn’t listen to you the way we ought to. Sometimes we forgot that we are your servants … that we have temporary jobs.

“And so we needed to exercise collectively — no one person, no two person — collectively we needed to demonstrate humility that comes from a servant heart.

“Some of the decisions we made, while they may have come from a good place, had some unintended consequences of negatively affecting many of you. Some of you labored expecting that you had the right certificates.

“You were hired through the right process and yet we didn’t move fast enough to confirm you in the positions that you had.”

Pintard apologized to the supporters who were left exposed.

He also apologized for any decision that “adversely affected” them or their families.

“We love you,” he said. 

“We love the people of The Bahamas.”

Support

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Pintard joined hands with Lewis and Thompson.

“We’re not going to take any major time celebrating,” he said.

“There’s way too much work to do and it is not lost on me, as I stand here, that I have some enormous shoes to fill.”

 Minnis, who said he has an “excellent” relationship with the FNM, told reporters on Saturday that he will support the party’s new leader.

Asked if he will have a strong and close relationship with the new leader, he said, “I’m an FNM. I will always remain an FNM and I will work to improve the FNM and ensure that the FNM re-emerges as the government.”

Minnis was noticeably absent for the announcement of the new party leader.

Despite this, Pintard said he expects Minnis to answer whenever he calls him for advice.

Former FNM Leaders Hubert Ingraham and Tommy Turnquest were present when Pintard gave his acceptance speech. Both men supported Pintard in the race for leader.

Ingraham, who was the first FNM elected prime minister, said he was not surprised that Pintard won.

“The party needed a change,” he said.

“Many of us worked hard behind the scenes to effect that change. We think Michael will do well. We’ll give him all the support he needs and go with him throughout The Bahamas when he needs us to go, speak for him but stay in the background.

“We’re advisors. We do not seek to guide him. We do not seek to lead him, just simply give him as much information and support as we can.”

Turnquest said Pintard’s victory gives the FNM an opportunity to reset, refocus, re-energize and rebuild.

“He understands what I call the Bahamian psyche and you have to relate to that and if you’re disconnected to that, you can tell if you’re winning or you’re losing,” he said.

“There were times when we were disconnected that we lost badly. When we connect, we know that we can win. I think Michael can connect. I think he has what it takes to connect.”

Turnquest said Pintard can call on him at any time.

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