Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to a letter that was published in the May 21 edition of The Nassau Guardian. It was written by the popular radio talk show host and rabid Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) supporter Ortland H. Bodie Jr. Bodie gloated about the landslide victory of the governing PLP over the "shell-shocked" Free National Movement (FNM) on May 7.
In terms of the number of seats that the PLP was able to win in the general election, it was by all accounts a landslide victory. The PLP won 29 seats to the FNM's nine. However, Bodie, as a gifted attorney (albeit disbarred) and noted radio talk show host, should be well aware that the PLP did not secure more than 48.62 percent of the overall votes that were cast in the electoral contest. Collectively speaking, the FNM, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), the Bahamas Constitution Party (BCP) and independent candidates received 51.38 percent of the votes. This means that more than half of the people who voted on Election Day rejected the message of PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts, Prime Minister Perry G. Christie and their slate of candidates. Another thing that Bodie needs to consider is that only 90.6 percent of the registered voters exercised their constitutional right to vote on May 7.
Of the reported 172,128 Bahamians who had registered to vote, only 155,948 voted. This means that a staggering 16,180 persons didn't bother to vote. Why is this and who are these people? Are they supporters of the PLP, DNA or to use Bodie's words, the defunct FNM? Judging from the groundswell of support that the PLP received at its Gold Rush rallies throughout the country, I don't believe that these 16,180 registered non-voters are supporters of the PLP. I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of PLP supporters were fully galvanized behind their leader, Christie.
These people were fully determined to retire former Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham and his administration. Mind you, the PLP only received 75,815 of the votes cast. On the other hand, the FNM got 65,634 votes. This means that the governing party outscored the FNM by 10,181 votes. Let me admit that I had initially dismissed the impact that Branville McCartney's new opposition party had on the election results. However, after carefully examining the poll results on The Nassau Guardian's tally sheet, I am now convinced that the DNA played spoiler to the FNM. Even though none of the party's 38 candidates were able to win a seat, and many of them lost their election deposits, the DNA was able to secured more than 13,000 or around eight percent of the votes that were cast.
Every political analyst in the country is well aware that the DNA is an offshoot of the FNM. The party was spawned after McCartney, former FNM Bamboo Town member of Parliament and minister of state for immigration, had a public falling-out with the former prime minister. He subsequently left the governing party and started the DNA. This third political organization is predominantly made up of disgruntled FNMs. That is why Christie, during the campaign, warned voters not to support the DNA. He said that a vote for the DNA would be a vote for the FNM. Now, however, after realizing the sheer number of votes that the DNA had received, PLP supporters are backpedaling on their former comments about the DNA being made up mainly of former FNMs. But the record is there for all to see. Christie and his candidates rightly viewed the DNA and the FNM as being one and the same. Even a popular PLP Internet daily views the DNA as an offshoot of the former governing party. But why are PLP supporters all of a sudden backpedaling on their pre-Election Day FNM/DNA comments? Perhaps they now realize that had McCartney remained within the fold of the FNM, the outcome of the general election would have been radically different.
For instance, if one were to add the 13,266 votes that the DNA received to the 65,634 votes of the former governing party, this would mean that the FNM would have received 78,900 votes. Clearly, had such a scenario occurred, the FNM would be the government today and not the PLP. Another thing that we must factor into the election results is the 16,180 registered Bahamians who stayed away from the polls. I am of the belief that the overwhelming majority of these non-voters are disgruntled FNMs. Had these people voted, the FNM would have gotten approximately 81,814 votes. Add that figure to the DNA's 13,266, and you would get 95,080 votes for the FNM. Granted, there will be some analysts who would dismiss my hypothesis. But no one can deny that the majority of the 13,266 DNA supporters who voted were upset FNMs. And no one can prove that the 16,180 non-voters are PLP supporters. As I have said before, the PLP party was fully galvanized. They had every reason to vote. In any event, the reported 75,815 persons who voted for the governing party were more than likely all the votes the PLP would have garnered, despite the myriad of problems facing The Bahamas. These people would have never considered supporting Ingraham under any circumstances.
As the chairman of the PLP, Roberts will undoubtedly get the credit for his party's victory. But, if truth be told, he was not the reason why the FNM lost the election. Of course, the PLP gained much political mileage over the Ingraham administration because the unemployment rate in New Providence and Grand Bahama is in the double digits; the murder rate is sky high and many Bahamians were murmuring about the mismanaged New Providence Road Improvement Project. In addition, there was the ongoing labor unrest in immigration and customs. But in the last analysis, the FNM shot itself in the foot by upsetting its political base. This is the real reason why Ingraham lost the government. It had nothing to do with Roberts, notwithstanding Bodie's flattering comments on the role that the national chairman played in the FNM's demise.

- Kevin Evans

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