The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie has accused the Christie administration of trying to disenfranchise voters with its handling of the work of the Constituencies Commission.

“Desperation - that is the only word to describe the embattled prime minister and his PLP leading to the upcoming general election,” he said in a press release recently. “They are willing to say and do anything they can to try and save their hold on power. The PLP spent months gerrymandering the constituencies while missing numerous constitutional and self-imposed deadlines and now we see the results of these actions.

“With weeks to go before the next general election, the PLP’s boundaries report proves they are trying to confuse and disenfranchise voters. What they have done in desperation was to shuffle various polling divisions, move around boundary lines, change a name and create an old familiar constituency name in the hopes of stacking the deck in their favour.

“This is what desperate career politicians do when they see the writing on the wall. And that writing is very clear, change is coming and the Bahamian people will finally have a say on their future, and the PLP isn’t a part of it.”

Mr Collie continued his party’s effort to encourage Prime Minister Perry Christie to set an election date, saying it’s time “for the embattled prime minister to set forth a timeline for the next general election.”

He added: “For the Bahamian people, it cannot come soon enough, they are tired of the PLP’s empty rhetoric and broken promises and have demanded the election be called now. Try as they may, this PLP government cannot stop the will of the Bahamian people through their devious actions.

“When the bell is rung, it is the people who will decide their future for their country. There are clear differences between the PLP and the FNM. The FNM trusts the people, while the PLP would attempt to manipulate the people into submission. But when we remove the desperate PLP from power this next election, the people will finally have their country back with a government that serves the people, not just themselves.”