Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller said yesterday that Prime Minister Perry Christie should call an early election and take advantage of the Free National Movement (FNM) during its "weakest hour".

"If it [were] me, I would've [called the election] tomorrow," Miller said. "You [have] problems; that's your problem. I want to win. So I will go at your weakest hour. If a [fellow] and I are in a race and he has a bad leg, that's his problem. I will win. I don't care about his leg. I want to win. I will feel bad about it, but I'm not going to let him take my medal because he's got a bad leg and I should wait for his leg to heal.

"I'm going to get my gold medal and hopefully he can come back. I'm taking what I can take now. The opportunity is there and I will grab it now. "

Miller said Christie should call the election for June or July. His comments came as the FNM continued to be plagued by infighting.

Controversy engulfed the FNM after Senator Lanisha Rolle called in to the Guardian Radio talk show "The Conversation" two weeks ago and said several sitting FNM MPs are "jealous" of party leader Dr. Hubert Minnis. The comments angered many FNMs. Five FNM MPs have called for Rolle to publicly apologize. Failing that, the group said Minnis should ask Rolle to apologize and distance himself from Rolle's comments. However, Minnis has not made any moves to do so.

Miller said he doubts that Minnis will back down. However, he said while he is sure the FNM will eventually get over its problems, it would be smart for Christie to strike now.

"We went through this [ahead of] 2007 when [former Prime Minister Hubert] Ingraham wasn't back and we allowed him to come back and we allowed him to get strong and I saw this and the manifestation was that he ... took us out," Miller said.
"I don't want us to repeat that mistake.

"You watch between now and June. The playing field will be settled and everybody is going to go back to what they want to do. You know why? There is one ambition that keeps them. There is one small thing that keeps all of the FNMs together; they want to get rid of the PLP.

"So at some point in time they will forget all their problems and forget all of the hate they have for each other because they have one common goal to remove us from office. They will come together at some point in time and I hope that the prime minister doesn't allow them to garner enough speed and enough strength that, that coalition coalesces."

Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MP Philip Galanis said on Monday the Official Opposition led by Minnis is the weakest the country has seen in decades. He charged that in its current state, the opposition would be wiped out if an early election were called.

Ingraham said on Sunday he hopes the party can get itself together and win the next election.

Miller said yesterday that Ingraham is right to be concerned.

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