FNM Chairman Dr Duane Sands.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Chief Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Free National Movement will hold its long-delayed inquest into its crushing election defeat behind closed doors this weekend.
Party chairman Dr Duane Sands said the party won’t allow outsiders in, saying: “How am I going to have a confidential discussion with a PLP sitting in the room?”
More than 300 constituency representatives, party officers and senior members are expected at the two-day conclave, which begins on Friday. It is the party’s first formal reckoning since it won only eight of 41 seats in the May general election.
The meeting comes as the FNM grapples with low morale and an open debate over whether Michael Pintard should remain leader. After the election, Mr Pintard was reported to have told party members he would decide whether to stay on based on the outcome of the party’s post-mortem. The conclave was first planned for July but was postponed.
Dr Sands said the party must confront hard questions about what it should do differently, including how it reaches voters, how it gets supporters to the polls and whether it has become stale.
“How,” he said, “do you deal with the issue of voter turnout? How do you remain true to your core values, but at the same time, not being stale? How do you freshen up or modernise as time goes on? These are all very important issues.”
He said the conclave would go beyond reviewing the defeat. Members would be presented with data for an evidence-based assessment of where the party stands and where it should go.
Asked whether a closed-door meeting without outside input could produce an honest assessment, Dr Sands said the party had already sought outside views but needed a confidential space for frank discussion.
He said governments in The Bahamas had typically been voted out after one term, but the Progressive Liberal Party broke that pattern by winning a second consecutive term for the first time in nearly three decades, something he said the FNM must examine.
Asked whether the conclave could re-energise the party’s base, Dr Sands said: “I believe it can. I believe it will.”
He urged members to “be honest, objective and participate”, and said he expected the event to be positive and impactful.
Party insiders have privately told The Tribune that morale has been low amid conflicting views about the party’s leadership and its future.
The leadership debate further erupted in August when former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham told supporters the FNM needed leadership capable of inspiring people rather than trying to force loyalty, and urged members to “find someone who could win”. Mr Pintard rebuked Mr Ingraham for choosing the wrong setting to raise the issue, and insisted he remains the best person to lead the party.
Former FNM deputy chairman Michael Turnquest went further, saying none of the sitting Opposition MPs had shown they could unite the party, re-energise its base and win over voters. He urged the FNM to consider every option, including looking across the floor or outside the current political structure.
“Pintard’s continued claim to leadership is not a show of strength,” Mr Turnquest said at the time. “It is the very definition of leadership by default.”
Dr Sands has also pushed for the party’s next convention, currently due by October 2027, to be held within months.
Speculation about a leadership contest continues in the background. FNM deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright, the former St Barnabas MP, and East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson are being watched as possible contenders. The Tribune also understands that interest has grown in Long Island MP Dr Andre Rollins following his forceful contributions in the House of Assembly.
None has publicly declared an intention to seek the leadership. Dr Rollins said in September that he had made no decision to enter the race, and that he continued to recognise Mr Pintard as leader.