MP Richard Lightbourn addresses the crowd at the FNM convetion in July.

Despite a string of departures from the lineup of likely and actual Free National Movement (FNM) candidates for the 2017 general election, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn said he plans to run again in his constituency, and on the FNM's ticket.

The Nassau Guardian can confirm there has been talk within party circles of Lightbourn bowing out after the uproar his comments at the FNM's July convention with regard to women's reproductive rights caused, but Lightbourn said he doesn't plan on going anywhere.

"There's no plan at this moment not to run," he told The Guardian yesterday.

At the July convention, Lightbourn suggested that unwed mothers should have their "tubes tied" after they have given birth to more than two children.

Lightbourn also told The Guardian he was aware of reports that party executives asked him not to run in the wake of his controversial speech.

Lightbourn would not confirm or deny whether he had been asked to step aside.

"I'm not saying that," he said. "But there may be people out there that feel that way."

St. Anne's MP Hubert Chipman said he also plans to run in his constituency on the FNM's ticket.

He said it is "of course" his desire to secure a nomination.

"I'll put it this way, I have every intention to run again," he said on Friday. "But you know that is not up to me; it's not for me to say. If given the opportunity, I will run."

Chipman and Lightbourn were a part of the group of FNM MPs who opposed FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis.

Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins, North Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly and Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant are the other members of that group.

Rollins, Neilly and Grant have already announced that they will not seek nominations.

Asked if those departures have influenced him or concern him at all, Chipman said, "No. That doesn't bother me at all, I'm an FNM."

Despite calls from his supporters to axe the six MPs from the party lineup, Minnis promised at the convention not to do so and to work to unite the party.

Lightbourn said he doesn't fear Minnis would go back on his word.

"There has been the suggestion that the leadership wants to get rid of all of us, but that doesn't coincide with his statement at convention that he was going to reunite the party," he said. "In my view, I wouldn't regard it as uniting the party if he did that."

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