One of the challenges of the Free National Movement (FNM) as its leadership battle approaches is that its pickings of potential leaders from the House of Assembly are incredibly slim.
The party holds eight seats in the House.
Three of those MPs are former ministers; four are political novices, and the eighth -- Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key, a veteran politician -- is approaching retirement.
The party's only real options for the leadership position from its House of Assembly team are the two former ministers who are running for leader: current Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis and Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner.
Their other colleagues in the Ingraham administration, with the exception of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, were wiped out on May 7, 2012.
Ingraham won his North Abaco seat, but quickly resigned.
Names like Tommy Turnquest, Carl Bethel, Dion Foulkes, Zhivargo Laing and Phenton Neymour very seldom come up these days in discussions on future leadership in the party.
They are all former ministers who lost their seats.
Following the 2002 defeat, the FNM tried the formula of having a leader outside of the House. Turnquest led the party from in the Senate, but it was clear that, in order to be effective, the FNM leader needed to be in the House.
This thinking, and Turnquest's failure to sufficiently excite the party's base, paved the way for Ingraham's eventual return as leader of the party.
Former Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour told National Review that the reason the FNM's pickings for leadership are so slim today is because the party's young were "picked off".
"Many of us who were born in the 60s and early 70s, when we became politically involved, were targeted and, one by one, taken out by many of those who preceded us when they recognized that we had leadership potential. And, therefore, our generation slowly but surely was strangled by many political leaders, and as a result of it, there is now a political void that exists in terms of leadership and there are many who are afraid to stand firm and fill that void," said Neymour, who is considering running for FNM chairman at the party's convention on November 21.
"And in that regard, our generation has failed because we have failed to stick together."
We found Neymour's comments interesting enough to let his former colleagues and former leader know what he is thinking.
We asked him to expand on his statement.
"Let me be clear, young leaders, early, when they were identified as young leaders, in the existing political system, they are slowly but surely picked off by the boys club," Neymour said.
"Within the political system there exists boys clubs who, if you do not abide by their rules, or, if you demonstrate leadership or threaten the hierarchy, you are picked off one by one. You are picked off either financially, you're picked off politically or you are slandered."
He added, "That may be the case with regards to the public's perception of me, but many of us, in a way, have been, and I say 'picked off', and have been left out there to die politically and many of us have allowed it, but yet again the system has created an environment where they stifle the young."
Neymour insisted that "it's not just in the FNM".
"Do you know there is no Young Liberal in the PLP elected to the House of Assembly? They pick them off young," he said.
"Not one. You look at all the young people in the PLP; some of them aren't even PLP."
Asked whether he believes Ingraham paid attention to succession planning, Neymour said, "Most political leaders do not focus on that, in my view because they are looking for their own survival."
He added, "I think the mere fact that Phenton Neymour was outspoken worked to his detriment. Phenton Neymour was outspoken in Cabinet. Phenton Neymour was outspoken, and that's why I'm of the view that is one of the things that created some of my challenges while in office and currently today because [I am] outspoken.
"There are many of us who have been picked off. I am of the view, and many politicians will agree, that, when you win, your own becomes the enemy."
Neymour said some young politicians were held down since the days of the first prime minister, the late Sir Lynden Pindling.
Asked if Ingraham held him down, he responded: "I believe that there were many who had an opportunity and were not given a full range of opportunities, yes.
"I think that the younger generation should have been given more opportunities, and I would go so far as to say that I felt that myself and others, if allowed, could have made a greater contribution."

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