Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday he is not surprised former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has decided not to take his seat as the Member of Parliament for North Abaco.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) beat the Free National Movement (FNM) in a landslide victory on Monday.
"I tried very hard to beat him. I was hoping that I would have defeated him in the North Abaco constituency," Christie told reporters shortly after he was sworn in at Government House yesterday afternoon.
"I'm not surprised that he would have made a decision not to come back to Parliament because it would be difficult for him to sit on that side and look at me on the other side, given some of the things he's said about me."
Ingraham made several claims against Christie on the campaign trail, which was bitter to the very end.
During the final days before the general election, Ingraham claimed that Christie is an oil lobbyist. Ingraham made that claim after Christie confirmed that Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) benefited from advice he provided while he was a consultant for Davis & Co. law firm, which represents BPC.
Christie said Ingraham's claim was an FNM ploy to distract Bahamians from the issues and added that no drilling will happen in The Bahamas unless the necessary safety measures are in place and it is something the Bahamian people want.
"It is a great tragedy what Hubert Ingraham tried to do with the character of myself and [PLP Deputy Leader] Mr. [Philip] Davis. It was totally unacceptable," Christie said.
"We are two persons who were his law partners, who he knows protected the integrity of the firm and whom he had an 18-year working relationship. To try and make us out to be crooks in this country was unacceptable."
As for the by-election that will take place following Ingraham's resignation, Christie said it may be some time before another representative is elected.
"Mr. Ingraham has to resign and before he can do that there has to be an appointment of the Speaker of the House of Assembly," the prime minister said.
"And so the process will take some time moving forward. He has given quite rightly the country a full indication of what he intends to do. I anticipate that he will move as quickly as the process allows him to."
He added that the PLP will likely run Renardo Curry again in the North Abaco constituency.
Ingraham won the constituency with 2,233 votes. Curry got 1,854 votes and the Democratic National Alliance's candidate Sonith Lockhart received 39 votes.
Under the Bahamas Constitution, if a member resigns from the House of Assembly the speaker has to notify the governor general and a by-election must be held within 60 days.

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