The Tribune

By PAUL G TURNQUEST

Chief Reporter

pturnquest@tribunemedia.net

BOTH major political parties are promising a victory on October 15th after advance polling was conducted yesterday in the North Abaco bye-election.

With 99 persons eligible to vote in yesterday’s poll, both the FNM and the PLP camps are claiming to have a lead over the other.

Deputy campaign coordinator for the PLP, Valentine Grimes said the FNM’s candidate Greg Gomez was not resonating well with the people of Abaco, whom he claims have seen the PLP’s candidate Renardo Curry as their best option to represent them and their issues effectively in the House of Assembly.

“The election is still going to be tight, but we expect Renardo to be the victor. Remember (former Prime Minister Hubert) Ingraham won by some 300 votes so we have to turn those votes around and we are showing good signs of doing that,” he said.

This turnaround, according to Mr Grimes, is a

combination of three things. One, that Mr Gomez is not resonating well with the people of North Abaco and their candidate has; secondly that there were a number of supporters who were loyal to Mr Ingraham personally and have not switched their support to the FNM’s candidate; and thirdly that

Abaconians are confident about the government being led by Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Mr Grimes added that he is in charge of the party’s consortium of lawyers, which will consist of at least 28 attorneys on the day of the bye-election. All of these lawyers, Mr Grimes said are on a voluntary basis and none is being paid by the party.

Of the 99 voters who were eligible to cast their ballot yesterday, six voted at the Parliamentary Department in New Providence, one in Jamaica, and the remaining 92 at the Administrative Office in Coopers Town. Five of the six voters in New Providence voted at the Parliamentary Department with the sixth voter voting in Abaco.

Of the six votes being cast outside of Abaco, Mr Grimes said that his party expects to win five of them, and, up to press time, 39 of some

63 persons who had voted out of the eligible 92 in Abaco.

Mr Gomez: “We are confident that our candidate Renardo Curry will win come the counting on Monday. He has the support of the people in North Abaco and the confidence of the people of North Abaco. We will continue to fight for every vote, until the voting closes on Monday afternoon.”

However, the FNM’s campaign manager in North Abaco, Brenzil Rolle paints an entirely different picture of the FNM’s fortunes for the constituency.

“We are in Coopers Town and our numbers are substantially better than theirs. I am satisfied that of the number of supporters, our numbers are far better than the PLP.”

With respect to the margin of victory left in place by the former Prime Minister, Mr Rolle said that it is impossible for the PLP to erase the lead that Mr Ingraham left in place.

“The voters have said to the PLP it is a waste of their time to come here, they are going to do it for Ingraham. This is his seat. And this is young and old who are saying they are voting for the FNM. They have said to us that Mr Ingraham has done enough. All Mr Christie has to do, to show that he cares for the Bahamian people, is complete the

work that Mr Ingraham started in Abaco. If he can do that, he will be regarded as a successful PM building on Mr Ingraham’s legacy.”

As for any perceived weaknesses with his party’s candidate, Mr Rolle said that he did not believe that the people of Abaco were concerning themselves with those matters. In fact, he said he believes that the support shown to Mr Ingraham in 2012 will be transferred to Mr Gomez come October 15th.

“We are satisfied that every polling division won by Mr Ingraham will be won by Greg Gomez. We are confident of that, and that is why we expect to win. We also expect that persons who did not support the FNM will support Mr Gomez now. The impression of Mr Gomez being a weak and ineffective candidate is not having any impact on Abaco.

“The PLP is going to all extents to discredit and vilify Mr Ingraham and Mr Gomez. And as a consequence the people are upset about

that,” he said.