Members of the Free National Movement voted almost two to one yesterday to reject the man who had been their leader for four short years, opting instead to replace him with the man who had “anointed him to lead the party into the 2002 general elections.
Former prime minister Hubert Ingraham garnered 234 votes from delegates who cast their ballots, according to the unofficial results, winning by a large margin that left former leader Senator Tommy Turnquest earning 99 votes and Dion Foulkes trailing with a distant 40 votes.
The ballot counting at the convention site ended shortly before 7p.m.
Many delegates broke out in thunderous applause as chairman of the session Michael Barnett announced the results.
Sen. Turnquest entered the convention hall several hours later as hundreds of people stood to their feet and saluted him.
“I accept the will of the Free National Movement,” he told The Bahama Journal soon afterwards. “Let us unify and begin the process to regain the Government of the Bahamas. I congratulate Mr. Ingraham on his victory.”
Mr. Turnquest promised to give a more detailed response on Friday. Earlier in the day he told The Journal that he was disappointed that Mr. Ingraham had not kept his word, referring to him running for the leadership position.
Brent Symonette, the Member of Parliament for Montagu, was successful in his bid to secure the deputy leadership position, getting 168 votes. One hundred and twenty-four people voted for former party chairman Carl Bethel and former deputy leader Sidney Collie received 79 votes.
“There’s no turning back now. You will see a different programme and it will come forth with vitality and go straight through to our election victory,” Mr. Symonette said confidently.
Mr. Bethel declined to comment and promised to release a statement.
Former Senator Desmond Bannister succeeded him as the new chairman-elect. In what was considered a fairly tight race, he secured 214 votes to his rival’s (Loretta Butler-Turner) 155.
“I promised all of our delegates that I would get into every constituency in the country, on the ground, and ensure that each one of them is ready for victory. I also promise them that as chairman I will raise the level of political debate,” he said
Former Fox Hill MP Jaunianne Dorsette was voted in as the new Secretary General elect with 194 votes, beating out Ashley Cargill’s 179 votes. Former MICAL candidate Johnley Ferguson was elected as the Deputy Chairman.
The count for trustees is expected to take place this morning. There are more than 30 candidates who ran for 10 positions.
Michael Barnett, the session chairman, said it was one of the most keenly contested races for the party, where two to three candidates contested some 52 positions in most instances.
The installation of officers was scheduled for Saturday night.
Veteran FNM politician and former cabinet minister C.A. Smith opined that the election of a leader and deputy leader, who are both members of parliament, would auger well for the party.
“It provides the leader of the opposition, whose responsibility it would be to put forward the FNM’s agenda, whose responsibility it would be to oppose those things in parliament that are wrong-the fact that we now have a leader who is in the House of Assembly, I just believe this is an excellent thing,” he said.
He said FNMs throughout the country had been expressing concern about the fact that there was no leader or deputy leader with a seat in the House.
Mr. Turnquest lost his seat in the Mount Moriah constituency in the 2002 general elections to Keod Smith.
Just over two hours after the count was concluded, Mr. Ingraham told reporters at a press conference in one of the suites of the Nassau Wyndham Resort that he would be ready and willing to lead the Free National Movement to victory if the election were called in the morning.
Mr. Ingraham was asked to respond to Mr. Turnquest’s statement that he [Mr. Ingraham] had gone back on his word.
“I told you that I did not decide to allow my name to go forward until Monday-,” he said.
“I called Tommy and Dion both on Sunday night and I said I was not going to allow my name to go forward. I told you that the calls were incessant, the demands were great by party supporters and others throughout the country and I decided the following morning that I will allow my name to go forward. If you call that a breaking of a word, then I did; I don’t call it that though.
“I have a record that I am running on, that I stand on, that I sit on and I never seek to run away from. I think the people know that record and because they know it many, many persons would like to have more than they had before.”
Mr. Ingraham was also asked whether he thought PLPs were “running scared.”
“Oh no,” he said. “The PLP is a major political party. It has substantial support in the country. They wouldn’t need to be running scared. We’ll have a good fight and they will expect to win and we will expect to win and at the end of the day one party will win.”
By: Tameka Lundy and Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
