YES Bahamas blames 'political confusion' for no vote

Wed, Jun 8th 2016, 11:49 AM


Members of the YES Bahamas campaign address the media at Charlotte Street last night. Seated from left are YES Bahamas Co-Chair Lady Sharon Wilson; YES Bahamas Co-Executive Director Heather Hunt, and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson. (Photo: Ahvia J. Campbell)

Co-Chair of the YES Bahamas campaign Lady Sharon Wilson said last night that "political confusion" led to the resounding no vote in yesterday's gender equality referendum.

"I believe there was just a lot... of information that sought to contradict what we sought to be the truths of the campaign and perhaps introduce the element of confusion," she said at the YES Bahamas headquarters at Charlotte House.

However, she maintained that despite the outcome, the country emerged victorious.

"Many people were prepared to cross the political line," she said. "My own co-chair and myself for the first time [came] together on something that we believed to us was bigger than our political differences."

Her co-chair, Lynn Holowesko, was not present at the headquarters.

Polls around the country closed at 6 p.m. yesterday.

As the vote tallies came in, the mood at the YES Bahamas headquarters was a somber one.

Sir Franklyn Wilson sat with his arms folded and his legs crossed with his eyes glued to the results on a huge projector screen.

"Wow," he said, as the results were announced. "Jesus. Oh boy, oh boy."

But many in the group still remained confident that there was still a chance for the yes campaign to score a win.

Lady Wilson said, "The night is still young".

As she watched the returns on TV and surveyed information gleaned from Yes Bahamas operatives on the ground, an optimistic Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said she believed misinformation was behind the low yes votes.

"I think, unfortunately, that there was a big deal, unfortunately, of misinformation that probably did contribute to what I call confusion and people focusing on what was not on the bill and that is disappointing," she said.

Shortly after 10 p.m., it became apparent that the Bahamian people had spoken in opposition to the Yes Bahamas campaign.

By 10:30 p.m., Anglican Archdeacon James Palacious gathered members of the group into a circle for prayer to encourage them to remain positive.

Maynard-Gibson told the group that it was on "the right side of history".

"I still celebrate the fact that we are able in our country to hold a constitutional referendum for us to focus on issues that are important to the next generation," Maynard-Gibson said.

Keesha Bethell, Guardian Staff Reporter

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