After more than a year of hinting at a possible leadership bid, and saying that he is prepared to lead the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis has confirmed that he will not challenge Prime Minister Perry Christie at the party's convention this week.
Following his ratification at the PLP's headquarters last Thursday, Davis, the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP, was asked whether he intends to run for leader.
He said, "No. I do not intend to", putting to rest mounting speculation that his name would be placed in the hat. Former attorney general and PLP candidate for Fort Charlotte Alfred Sears is the only person to announce he will challenge Christie.
Christie, who is in campaign mode, has frequently addressed the ongoing leadership debate in recent weeks.
He said recently that the government has invested too much energy and creativity, and introduced too many new policy innovations to squander an opportunity to win the next general election and continue its work for Bahamians. Sears has expressed confidence in his ability to win.
Christie has said he will re-emerge as leader.
A Public Domain survey last year, as it relates to ratings of political leaders, showed that Sears scored 4.8, while Christie scored 4.3 on a scale of one to 10. Davis scored 4.1. In June 2015, Davis indicated his willingness to run for the leadership position. But he neither confirmed nor denied whether he would challenge Christie. The convention was planned for November 2015.
But it was eventually postponed after Hurricane Joaquin pounded the southern and central islands that October. Before the convention was delayed, Christie appealed to Davis and Cabinet ministers with leadership aspirations to recognize that challenging him was "not the most appropriate course of action to take at this stage in our country".
Referring to Davis, Christie said, "he is a long, long, long personal friend and a person who have given me unstinting support", adding that "the confidence I reposed in him enabled me to give him a very significant portfolio of responsibility as a minister".
"I am hoping that, that in and of itself will lend for Mr. Davis and any other Cabinet minister [to recognize] that it is not the most appropriate course of action to take at this stage in our country - to have a leadership race in this form".
At the time, PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said he advised Davis it was not the right time to challenge Christie. Several months ahead of what was intended to be a November 2016 convention, Davis again said he was prepared to lead the party. But again, he remained noncommittal about whether he would challenge Christie.
Ahead of that convention, which was also postponed on account of Hurricane Matthew that October, Roberts signaled that it was the appropriate time for leadership aspirers, including Davis, to challenge Christie.
There are no reports at this time that anyone will challenge Davis for the deputy leadership post. Nominations are Wednesday. The PLP convention starts on January 24. The last PLP convention was in 2009.
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