Hours after he was overwhelmingly voted the new leader of the FNM, former prime minister Hubert Ingraham promised the governing Progressive Liberal Party a good election fight.
Mr. Ingraham said that while the PLP, a major political party, had no reason to be “running scared”, he was ready for a general election, whenever it is called.
“We will have a good fight. They would expect to win and we would expect to win, but at the end of day, one party will win,” he told reporters last night in his first press conference since his name was circulated as a possible candidate in the FNM’s leadership election.
He also said that mass rallies would be held in Nassau, Grand Bahama, Exuma and Abaco before Christmas.
Mr. Ingraham, who had previously led the FNM from 1990 to 2001, was re-elected leader yesterday with 234 of votes over incumbent Senator Tommy Turnquest and former deputy leader Dion Foulkes.
Brent Symonette was elected deputy leader with 168 votes, and Desmond Bannister was elected chairman with 214 votes. Mr. Ingraham said that if he were elected prime minister, Mr. Symonette would not necessarily be appointed deputy prime minister.
Many FNM delegates said that the result was no surprise, but Mr. Ingraham said last night that he did not decide to allow his name to go forward until this past Monday, the day before party nominations and the morning after he told both Mr. Turnquest and Mr. Foulkes that he would not be running for the top post.
Mr. Ingraham said that he did not break his word to the men that he once endorsed to take over the party’s leadership, and added that it was one of the most difficult decisions of his life.
“I made a very late decision to allow my name to go forward,” he told reporters. “I was persuaded by the incessant and persistent and continuing calls, that turned into demands, by many party supporters and Bahamians, and I eventually relented and agreed, that if it was the will of the party to lead them, I would do so.”
Mr. Ingraham also said that he did not take part in any campaigning in the run-up to Thursday’s vote, which included a motorcade, promotion brochures, posters and T-shirts, but thanked those who did. “I had nothing to do with any of it and I was surprised as anybody else,” he said.
Following Thursday’s election results, Mr. Ingraham said that he had spoken to Mr. Turnquest and thanked him “profusely” for his service as leader and as a worthy and contributing member of the party.
“I look forward to his continuing involvement in a leadership position if the party, and consider what happened today an interruption, a hiccup in what could be a bright political future,” said Mr. Ingraham.
He said that he had “great admiration” for Mr. Turnquest, but was disappointed that the public did not “take to him” the way the he had taken to him, and did not see him the way that he saw him.
“But that’s the nature of politics; he just didn’t excite the public and the FNMs, and that is why they turned to me,” said Mr. Ingraham.
He said that he did not agree with his former deputy, Frank Watson, who said recently that electing Mr. Turnquest to the party’s leadership post was a mistake, and noted that he had supported both Mr. Turnquest and Mr. Foulkes at the time, and would have been happy if either had been chosen to lead the party.
Mr. Ingraham said that he had not spoken to Mr. Foulkes, but intended to speak to him sometime today.
Immediately following the press conference, which was held at a suite in the Wyndham Nassau Resort, Mr. Ingraham made his way into the convention hall to hear the night’s remaining speakers.
As he made his way to his seat after 10pm the packed ballroom cheered and many delegates and supporters stood on their chairs in excitement, waving pom-poms and dancing to one of the party’s theme songs, “Keep the Fire Burnin'”
Mr. Ingraham greeted both Mr. Turnquest and Mr. Foulkes in the convention hall.
He said that his immediate focus is to prepare his party for the election and to assume the mantle of governance after the next general election.
And this time around, he said that he would not be placing any time limits on his service.
As for the question of the party’s unity, Mr. Ingraham said that he did not think that unifying the party following the leadership battle would be difficult.
“I am older now, and wiser now, I know more of the pitfalls than I knew then I know more people, I know many people’s likes and dislikes, and they know me and I think we’ll get along fine,” he said.
“We are going to be united, and we are going to be united not by show but by reality, and I don’t expect there to be any division of consequence.”
Mr. Ingraham pointed out that when the PLP expelled him from the party in 1987, there was no way he would have won his seat in Cooper’s Town without the FNM’s supports.
“The FNM chose not to run a candidate against me and I won,” he said. “I joined the FNM in March of 1990 and I told them then that we’d be together until the end, because I had chosen them as my party.”
Mr. Ingraham will address the FNM Convention 2005 tonight at 10 o’clock.
By: Erica Wells, The Bahama Journal
