The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Cabinet minister Tennyson Wells yesterday challenged all Free National Movement (FNM) members “actually vying for a seat” to be wise and take advantage of the recently announced boundary changes, which he said “favours” the FNM.

He spoke to The Tribune shortly after Supreme Court judge Justice Ian Winder rejected an application by Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn and Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins to hold a judicial review of the boundaries report tabled in the House of Assembly earlier this month.

Mr Wells said the effort mounted by two “non-FNMs” only confused members of the electorate on the status of their constituency placements.

“It is time to move ahead,” the former agriculture and fisheries minister said.

“Politics is one thing, the legal position is another. In this new age of Bahamian politics you have to cover both ends, and their actions basically delayed efforts for many persons in Opposition actually vying for a seat.”

Mr Wells added that the FNM could now go ahead with plans to capture several constituencies that were, in past elections, considered “unwinnable”.

“For the first time in a while, the FNM has shots at winning Fort Charlotte, Bain and Grants Town, Tall Pines, Mount Moriah, St Barnabas, it was once St Cecilia, and even West End and Bimini. All of this is possible, because of how the PLP cut the new boundaries,” he added.

“The FNM now has an inside track to several of these PLP strongholds and the time being wasted on this entire exercise could be used to build a better footing in these areas, instead of placing voters in a position of confusion and worry over whether the boundaries could change yet again.

“Perry (Christie) weakened Fort Charlotte, Mount Moriah and Bain and Grants Town to build up this St Barnabas constituency and strengthen his bid for re-election in Centreville. Instead of the legal proceedings and distractions, this is the time for those candidates to get on the ground and work those new boundaries.”

Polling stations

When compared to the boundaries constituted for the 2012 general election, the new Bain and Grants Town boundaries were cut from 14 polling stations to ten, with one polling station added from Fort Charlotte.

When analysed, the polling divisions removed from the Bain and Grants constituency were in the top 10 of margins of victory for PLP.

Polling divisions five, seven, 10, 13 and 14 all saw the PLP win over the FNM by an average of 111 votes. The narrowest margin of victory came in polling division 10, where the PLP captured the station by 61 votes.

Of the remaining nine stations, the PLP won on average by 62 votes. In two cases, the PLP won by single digits, in polling division four by seven votes and polling division nine by a single vote over the FNM.

The polling station added to Bain and Grants Town comes from a constituency the PLP struggled to win, losing the majority of polling divisions but holding on to the seat based on the popular vote.

In 2012, the FNM won seven of the 13 stations in Fort Charlotte.

Polling division four, which was moved to Bain and Grants Town, was only won by 45 votes. That marked the fifth highest margin of victory among the six polling divisions won by the PLP in Fort Charlotte.

In Mount Moriah, the constituency lost a total of five polling divisions between the new St Barnabas and Tall Pines - one, five, 11, 13 and 14.

The government reconstituted polling divisions five, 13 and 14 to St Barnabas; they won five and 13.

Additionally, when looking at Mr Wells’ claim of Mr Christie strengthening his bid for re-election, the numbers do show that the transfer of polling stations five, seven and 14 from Bain and Grants Town to Centreville does aid the Prime Minister; as the stations yielded the top three margins of victory for the PLP in the Bain and Grants Town area during the 2012 general election.

Those were the only additions to a Centreville area which saw the removal of polling divisions two, three, four, seven and 11; five stations that ran toward the middle of the pack for the PLP during the 2012 campaign.

Additionally Mr Wells argued that the FNM could secure West End and Bimini, not on numbers but based on a the present condition of Grand Bahama and Bimini.

“They took a polling division out of West End and placed it in Central Grand Bahama. While that looks good on paper for the FNM, we all know that Obie (Wilchcombe) has won that area consistently by large margins. You have to speak to those persons about their conditions, the lack of change and the fact that all the PLP has done for them is talk.

“That is what I am going on. That is my hunch there. Voters are tired and the FNM has to play on that.

“It is the same thing in Eleuthera and Andros. In Eleuthera, James Cistren and Hatchet Bay are PLP strongholds. The new cuts move them from the north to the south. That is the PLP’s way of basically conceding the north and doing all they can to secure the south. The FNM has to get in there now.

“In Andros, everything they promised has stalled or failed,” he said.

Mr Wells concluded that if advised correctly, the FNM could win 29 to 31 of the 39 seats being contested in the upcoming general election.