By DANA SMITH
dsmith@tribunemedia.net
DNA chairman Mark Humes said it is difficult to determine if his party contributed to the FNM's defeat, but said the election result was a "referendum" on the FNM's leader.
He agreed the DNA made an impact on the election, earning around 10,000 votes, but said "nobody can really say" if those votes cost the FNM seats.
"I think the people who voted for us didn't want to vote for the FNM, they didn't want to vote for the PLP. So nobody could say where they came from and how many voted and 'what if?' It would difficult for me to say that it contributed to the demise of the FNM," Mr Humes said.
"People may want to make assumptions but I think the people that we touched came from urban areas as well - that were strongly PLP. I know all the support I got was not all FNM support. So I can't say that it did and I can't say that it did not. Everybody is going to believe what they want to believe, but I can't say."
He said the FNM's loss was the result of Bahamians having had enough of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham's leadership style.
"What you saw was a complete referendum against Ingraham," he said. "It may not be a vote of confidence in the PLP, per say, but it was definitely a vote of non-confidence in Ingraham.
"People were frustrated with that type of leadership. It may not have been Ingraham personally, but it was Ingraham's style that people voted against."
Mr Humes said he had a "mixed reaction" to Mr Ingraham declining his winning seat and retiring from politics.
"The people of North Abaco elected him to represent them and he should have stayed to do that.
"If he was a leader he would have stayed for one more term," Mr Humes said.
"We accept that he's tired and if he wants to retire and spend time with his family, then we accept that and we say we wish him well in his retirement."
Reacting to the PLP's win, the party chairman declared: "This is the same old era from 2002.
"The only person that's gone from the PLP right now is Vincent Peet. Other than that, it is the same thing. Like Mr McCartney was saying: 'We're going back.'
"We're hoping that Mr Christie learned the lesson and we just wait and see. But this is not a new era... A new era would have been the FNM and the PLP without Mr Christie and without Mr Ingraham.
"We can't call this a new era when you still have Mr Christie, when you still have 'Brave' Davis, you still have Bernard Nottage - even behind the scenes you still have the same old characters."
Comments
242 12 years, 6 months ago
Ya'll did well pullin 10,000 votes but is this really what yall wanted to happen?
Arob 12 years, 6 months ago
The results of the May 7 election is not a shock. Any poliitcal analyst would have seen the writing on the wall. Recent elections around the globe (Ireland, Greece etc. and even US primaries and elections), the governing parties/incumbent(s) were all replaced. This reaction to the financial crises is a basic human response for survival -- hope that there is "something" better.
dacy 12 years, 6 months ago
WELL MR. HUMES WHAT IS THE MESSAGE FOR DNA...I MEAN IF THE PEOPLE REJECTED MR INGRAHAM WHO WON HIS SEAT, WHAT DOES IT MEANS FOR THE LEADER OF THE DNA WHO LOST HIS SEAT??
bahamamama 12 years, 6 months ago
Interesting thought. Didn't Branville say he would resign as leader if he didn't win his seat? What was his lawyer response to that?
Eyesonyou 12 years, 6 months ago
In Bamboo town, people probably only voted for Renward Wells because he was on a PLP ticket. Same as Cassius. He could only get the votes he got because he was on an FNM ticket. Maybe a good number of people, including FNMs, voted PLP to strictly vote out Ingraham when they voted in Bamboo Town. Not that they really cared for the PLP. They could just care about Ingraham less. The votes you see Cassius got were probably votes to try and save Ingraham and the FNM party. I think Mr. McCartney lost Bamboo Town because some of the voters in that area were more focused on destroying each other for the sake of destroying Ingraham and the name FNM and PLP. Then they say the next day, after they tear up each other, "We all Bahamians." Dacy, to me, it seem as if the people didn't reject Mr. McCartney the same way they did Mr. Ingraham. I think they recognized that Mr. McCartney was a good man and candidate, but they were just more focused on making sure Reward - like all of the other 28 PLP candidates - drop a beating on Hubert, Cassius, the FNM in Bamboo, and all the other constituencies in the Bahamas. And the people who voted for Cassius probably only voted to use him to stop Mr. Ingraham from getting that cut behind. So Mr. McCartney still sitting good, even if what you see now as a loss.
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