The Way Forward for the PLP After the Bahamas Election

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

As the dust settles from the 2007 election both national political parties will no doubt be assessing their standing in the country and the challenges facing them – external and internal.

The Free National Movement is, of course, in the better position. Having won the election, the primary objective of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his colleagues is now to govern well, even though they will be taking a good look at their performance, especially in some constituencies they expected to win but did not.

Opposition Leader Perry Christie and his colleagues must not only mount an effective opposition in parliament but they also face the daunting task of examining why they lost the election and became the first one-term government in Bahamian history and, more importantly, what to do about it.

Political parties are notoriously prone to over-confidence in an election and perhaps they cannot be otherwise, or at least cannot appear to be. That is not so bad because to look like losers even in the face of imminent defeat is to invite annihilation.

What is far more dangerous is the failure to face up to the reasons for defeat and to take corrective measures.

PLP Leaders are having great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that they lost the election in the first place and if they do not get past that hurdle they are not likely to be honest with themselves in answering the painful questions.

According to Mr. Christie, the FNM, does not have the “moral authority” to govern, presumably because of the slim margin of the popular vote. That makes no sense at all and Mr. Christie should know it. If the FNM does not have the authority to govern, who does?

The electoral system in The Bahamas is basically the same as in Britain and in most Commonwealth parliamentary democracies. It is configured on constituencies and not on a national popular vote.

It is therefore possible for a party to win the majority of seats in parliament with a minority of the popular vote. A government elected in this fashion would have no less constitutional and moral authority to govern.

As Mr. Ingraham has already pointed out, it has been some years since a British government was elected with as much as 50 per cent of the popular vote.

Roughly the same system is in effect in presidential elections in the United States. It is on the basis of states won and the electoral votes assigned to them rather than a national popular vote. The whole world knows that George W. Bush got less votes than Al Gore in 2002 but still became President.

Mr. Christie and his party do a disservice to the Bahamian people and especially young Bahamians whom he should be educating about our system of government instead of trying to misinform them just to save face for his party.

Mr. Christie and his colleagues have also made statements that seem to suggest that the FNM won because it had more money, some from the so-called white knights and some from unnamed special interests.

The claim that the FNM has always had easy access to money and has always out-spent the PLP is simply not true. In most of the elections since 1967, the PLP has had no shortage of money.

The owners of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, beginning with Wallace Groves, have contributed liberally to the PLP ever since 1968. They have also contributed generously to high-ranking individuals in the PLP and some of the money donated to the party found its way into private bank accounts.

Furthermore, in later years the PLP was well-funded by new PLP millionaires as well as a succession of foreigners wanting to do business in The Bahamas, not all of them exactly desirable.

Some in the latter category were not so much interested in fostering the democratic process in The Bahamas. They were clearly on buying the favour of the PLP in government.

The most notorious case of this kind was that of Mohamnad Harajchi who made perhaps the biggest contribution to any Bahamian political party from a single source. Mr. Harajchi said it was $10 million but Mr. Christie suggested that it was nearer $3 million.

In any event, the man who is now complaining about how much money the FNM got and from whom saw nothing wrong with accepting such a large contribution from a foreigner who had a specific objective in mind, and a dubious one at that.

The man who after five years in power is now talking about campaign finance reform, that same man when pressed about the Harajchi affair had a very revealing response. Said Mr. Christie: “So what!”

Incidentally, a prominent Bahamian cleric who had a lot to say about “reports” of FNM expenditure in a previous election had few if any pronouncements to make about the clearly scandalous Harajchi affair.

It takes a lot of money to run elections in The Bahamas, and a party or a candidate can lose for lack of sufficient funds to mount a credible campaign and to maintain an effective organization on the ground. But no election has been lost or won primarily because of money since the 1950s.

The PLP was defeated in the last election simply because it lost favour with the Bahamian electorate, and it lost favour for a number of reasons, one being a failure of leadership.

This had its roots in the past when Sir Lynden Pindling decided to support Perry Christie for leadership of the party over Bernard Nottage. A majority of the hierarchy of the party did not think Mr. Christie could cut it, but Sir Lynden liked Mr. Christie and apparently had ideas about controlling him.

So he got the rank and file of his party to support Mr. Christie in a rancorous campaign that led to Dr. Nottage’s departure from the party. The hierarchy was right about Mr. Christie.

Now, despite the usual noises about confidence and loyalty, the PLP would be very shortsighted if it allowed Mr. Christie to stay on and to lead it into the next election. He is incapable of carrying out the reforms the party so desperately needs.

The problem is that some of those who were previously seen as potential successors to Mr. Christie have been badly tarnished. The once promising Dr. Nottage is regarded as an opportunist by some PLPs who believe he only went back to the party because of personal ambition.

Others who were regarded as future leaders in 2002 have lost considerable lustre. Obie Wilchcombe, who maintained a pretty good image for most of the PLP’s five years in office, revealed some disturbing traits in recent months and stunned the country with his response to allegations of vote-buying in his constituency.

Fred Mitchell, a former favourite with many PLPs and others as well, was a big loser as he developed an image of arrogance and intolerance of criticism. Some of the pronouncements on his website, Bahamas Uncensored, since the election have been vicious, racist and abusive.

Whoever the next PLP leader turns out to be, he or she will have to do what Perry Christie dismally failed to do, and that is to rid the party of some persistent bad attitudes and habits.

He will have to subscribe to the new political culture in which victimization, unfair practices and an attitude of entitlement have no place. He will have to convince the Bahamian people of a genuine commitment to democracy and fair-play and a renounce claims to special privileges. That will be a tall order for the PLP.

Comments

[interested]

Well Said again.

Hopefully thesalient points made will be taken to heart by PLP dieharhds and their leadership if the want to move forward.

As you point out in a much more refined way, you can only fool youself for so long before the truth just hits you in the face and you are forced to face reality in order to move forward.

Hopefully the PLP leadership will read your considerably experienced advice and opinions and understand just where they are and how they got there.

Again, an excellent article.

[kareem Lumumba]

Surely you cannot be serious.. Why would Christie listen to a former or perhaps current member of the FNM and Political operative? YOu have got to be kidding us!!!
Christie lost because he and his colleagues while making mistakes Governed so effectively that the electorate and the nation forgot the massive peril the nation faced post 9/11. Three years of massive economic and political uncertainty, Inernational and domestic political peril, skyrocketing domestic gasoline prices somewhat inelastic Government revenues, hurricanes, unfunded National Security Mandates from International Agencies and the very beligerent, pre emptive and overly aggressive US Govermental machine. Christies Government provided steady economic and crisis management i a very turbulent time. Management executed so well a minority of the the electorate forgot there was a crisis and voted FNM against their own intersts. A situation soon to be corrected.
Hopefully Christie would do well not listen to the nonsense in your so well articulated misdirection.

[interested]

Well.....

It is difficult to understand why some cannot understand that the jury has spoken. Despite your protestations, when the question of effectiveness and proficiency of the Christie govt was put directly before the people as the major issue in the campaign, they spoke, they voted, they acted in what they peceived to be their best interest, they changed their position from the previous count and gave the new administration a tremedous mandate of an additional 17 seats and did so after only one term of the Christie govt. Even a subtantial pick up of seats by the FNM without winning the govt, would have sent a message. The handwriting was clearly put on the wall, even for the most dyslexic reader.

It certainly is difficult for me as one objective bystander to figure out why this is not clearly understandable to PLP apologists. Why do you continue to live in denial?

Please move forward to help the Country move forward.

Again it is clear that the people have spoken and they generally do not agree with your suppositions. They made a massive change in the positions of the parties with their recent vote even after only one term of PLP administration, doesn't this tell you something. Please let's move forward.

[DJosey]

Well written and informed commentary as usual. It is so interesting to note that an electorate which in 2002 was widely acclaimed for its intelligence and decisiveness has suddenly become ignorant and un-informed if one were to listen to Mr. Christie and his band of brothers.
My greatest fear for our country is that the discontent being sown by the “intellectual” politically dis-empowered will be fermented by the intellectually un-initiated producing a harvest of Civil Unrest. This is blatantly selfish and self seeking of the previous administration. It demonstrates an acute lack of statesmanship, decency and honor.
Leadership does not position itself at the fore of the masses and allow itself to become carried away by the warm currents of emotion. Instead it gently rises to the top as clear water rises in a stream filled with rocks, boulders, sand and gravel and finds its level at the top. We need leadership in the PLP which is visionary and can inspire a people to bring out the best in themselves. Sir Lynden we miss you !!

[dadon589]

Sir Arthur

I have studied your comments on this site and overwhelmingly you always seem to refer "back" to L.O. as the root of the PLP's problem. It's amazing to see how you cultural elite constantly defame each other. PLP's cry UPB and the FNM has Conchy Joe Fever. FNM's cry L.O.'s ghost and the PLP plays the race card. Sir Arthur, you have to do a better job of hiding your obvious bias. I have seen no objectivity from your articles compared to other contributors. Be a pundit. Talk about the present government or can you????? Rehashing the L.O. boogey-man to scare young bahamians who lack the history or the experience to understand our present Bahamas is getting old. Discuss the current government and the challenges that face them for the next five years. Give me/us articles that enlighten us about "current and future" challenges. The election is over the PLP has been defeated. MOVE ON. FORWARD!!

[kareem Lumumba]

The job of the PLP in moving forward is to bring down the FNM Government and to remove from office the most dangerous man to occupy the Office of Prime Minister.

I believe that his history and that of his previous two terms and the record will show that the current Prime Minister is lackey of the Bay Street Abaco monied elite and represent very narrow economic and finanacial interests in the Bahamas.

Reversal of thirty years of Cabinet finding with respect to relocation of the Port and shipping activities on Bay Street is in my view prima facie evidence of Political patronage, payback and cronyism. A full listing of supporting policies would be too numerous to list here.
Surely Sir Lynden must be screaming 'leave me alone' each time you invoke his name in your disinformation campaign for the Free National Movement.

[EBC]

@Kareem Lumumba

Beware of blind loyalty. I can't really put it any other way. Your commentary sounds zealous to the point of irrationality. There are good FNMs and bad FNMs just as there are good PLPs and bad PLPs - you have to go with the lesser of two evils. The actions of the PLP in the past 5 years did not inspire confidence. Thus, the people voted them out. If the FNM are so terrible as you suppose, then they will be voted out as well.

The PLP must recognize the things they did wrong and seriously rectify them. If they stick to the 'God gave the Bahamas to the PLP' attitude, then they will lose again. If Christie had addressed the scandals and if he had shown serious leadership, then he would have won again in a landslide, but he didn't and he lost the confidence of the people in doing so. He has no one else to blame but himself and those particular woefully immature, petty and avaricious ministers who brought on all the scandals. (Gibson, Smith, Stubbs etc) If he had addressed even one of those scandals, the election would have been different. (What were Korean boats doing in the Bahamas?)

I want to see both parties cleaned up and working properly for the country, but the PLP just aren't there yet and their continued denial of their mistakes will continue to alienate the Bahamian electorate until they do so. Accountability and responsibility are the watch words for the next 5 years.

Keep idiots out of Parliament, be they FNM or PLP! Make party loyalty history and vote for SMART candidates!