The Tribune

By ALICIA WALLACE

WE ARE now less than one week away from the 2026 general election. The streets have been littered with useless billboards, lawn signs, and other campaign material. These money pits and land and ocean pollutants (when the relevant parties fail to remove and properly dispose of them) offer no information beyond the names of candidates and, in some cases, a slogan. They do not inform the public of values, experience, or policies.

Instead, we see overly-edited images of smiling people who are, frankly, trying to trick us into voting for them by dominating spaces with their likenesses, forcing us to see them frequently and in large numbers, thereby leading to the belief that they are more present and/or more popular and, as a result, more likely to win.

Becoming an informed voter in The Bahamas is no small feat. The political parties and their candidates do not make it easy for us to understand their perspectives and predict the national or constituency-level outcomes should they win. The rallies they hold are not designed for the sharing of information. They are shout fests riddled with one-liners, soundbites, and well-timed clips played by DJs, eliciting cheers and the waving of flags from the crowds.

Events at constituency offices and community parks have food, drinks, and music, but nothing of substance.

The way of campaigning in The Bahamas continues to foster the culture of handouts and the cult of personality, both of which prevent more substantive engagement between those vying for office and the electorate. The parties (and their leaders) refuse to debate, indicating their disinterest in deepening democracy and our collective participation in it. We are left to make our best guesses until the Free National Movement (FNM) releases its Manifesto and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) releases its Blueprint.

Even with these documents in hand (or on screen), it’s difficult to determine the objectives of the parties and, more specifically, the difference between what they want us to believe about their intent and capacity and what they know to be true.

Even a cursory look at official campaign material reveals that the two major parties are sticking to the usual scripts of the delusional incumbent and the scorned Opposition. They both suffer from unfortunate design choices including cut off faces and text (PLP) and a mess of paint (FNM) that gives the “under construction” perception that does not serve its image.

In his official message at the start of the Blueprint for Progress, Party Leader Philip Davis says, “We have done a lot together,” and vaguely references key points of interests, including economy, children, jobs, and accountability. The PLP, in this general election, is pushing the narrative that it has started “a lot,” but needs five more years to continue the work that the FNM would likely halt.

As stated in Davis’ message: “It is about building on the work already underway and moving the country forward with purpose.”

There’s a completely different tone to Pintard’s address at the start of the FNM’s Manifesto. It’s not only sombre, but laced with bitterness. While negativity is generally expected from the opposition, and a crutch when there is no plan, the entire first page is negative and it takes far too long to get to any semblance of a set of objectives. It does, eventually, mention some of the promises laid out later in the document—a missing element from Davis’ address in the Blueprint for Progress.

In short, the PLP wants us to believe that we would be in trouble if the FNM wins because it would bring an end to any progress that was made over the past four and a half years. In his address in the document, Deputy Leader Chester Cooper says, “This election is about whether we keep building on the gains we have made, or whether we turn away from the work still ahead.”

The FNM wants us to believe that the country has never been in a worse state, that it is all because of the PLP, and that it can solve the problems in the next five years. Pintard said, “We have gone backwards as a country under this Government. We cannot afford five more years of even more decline.”

It’s laughable that the Progressive Liberal Party references “fiscal discipline” in its Blueprint for Progress. “Fiscal discipline is the foundation on which everything else is built.” In September 2022, it was reported that government spending on travel alone totalled $11.8 million, exceeding the budget by more than 11 per cent. The report by the Ministry of Finance on the 2021-2022 fiscal year stated, "Outlays for travel and subsistence grew by $4.7m (66.7 percent) to $11.8m, and exceeded the Budget target by 11.1 percent. Air transportation, inclusive of domestic and international travel, and the repatriation of the ill grew by $2.2m and $0.8m, respectively.”

During this term, concerns were repeatedly raised about the frequency of travel and the size of government delegations. This administration has failed to allay concerns regarding the use of public funds for travel and in what many may find to be an interesting turn, the FNM makes the following pledge regarding the Christie administration-led national development plan which, unfortunately, was never implemented:

“Give our backing to the National Development Plan and put it on a statutory footing. Vision 2040 is crucial if The Bahamas is to fulfil its true potential across all national sectors, including the economy. That’s why we will ensure there are sufficient resources to complete and update the Plan and that a proposed National Development Plan Bill is passed through Parliament to put the initiative on a statutory basis.”

This comes after the February 2026 discussion on the Bahamas National Development Planning Institute Bill (2025) costing by the National Development Plan Secretariat and the Inter-American Development Bank at which both Davis and Pintard gave remarks.

The FNM Manifesto states it will “update loose laws” and it references a priority "to keep women and children safe, to make reporting sexual assault easier, and to make sure survivors are believed and supported” without specifically committing to criminalizing marital rape, passing the Gender-Based Violence Bill, implementing the National Gender Policy (which has been in draft for years and was recently updated), amending the law for gender-equal nationality rights, or implementation of recommendations through the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The PLP Charter states it will “strengthen the systems that protect women, children, and families from violence, and ensure that every survivor receives the support they deserve.” Predictably, it references the nonsense Protection Against Violence Act which it sneakily passed instead of the Gender-Based Violence Bill which remains a need.

The Charter says the PLP will “expand sexual violence prevention education in schools” which, interestingly, falls short of the call for comprehensive sexuality education. It says it will “ensure the legal framework around gender-based violence keeps pace with international best practice through ongoing legislative review,” but it has already failed to do this in the past six years, ignoring the recommendations made through CEDAW and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which include criminalization of marital rape, naming and counting femicide (which the PLP administration claims does not happen in The Bahamas), and passing the Gender-Based Violence Bill.

For those who do not have the time to read the PLP Blueprint for Change or the FNM Manifesto in full, it can be useful to look at their key commitments. These are found on pages 8-9 and 11, respectively.

In the Blueprint for Change, the PLP lists:

1.            Lower cost of living

2.            More opportunities

3.            Lower electricity bills

4.            Better pay for workers

5.            Safer communities

6.            More affordable housing

7.            Better schools

8.            Betters healthcare

9.            More food grown here

10.        More development for the Family Islands

11.        Better government services

12.        A real partner for Grand Bahama

13.        Building a stronger Bahamas

In the Manifesto, the FNM lists:

1.            Cut taxes for Bahamian people

2.            Make home ownership more affordable

3.            Strengthen the borders

4.            Ensure opportunity is more equally spread

5.            Fully implement the 2017 Freedom of Information Act

6.            Turbocharge Bahamian ownership and business

7.            Hire 100 new doctors and 200 new nurses

8.            Establish a minimum $100 weekly stipend to help young people

9.            Restore trust in the Royal Bahamas Police Force

It’s important that we decide to pay attention to the rhetoric of the PLP and FNM. What are they saying? What are they not saying? Which questions are they refusing to answer? What have they already told us about themselves, especially before the campaigning officially started? How are they talking about one another, within and across parties, and what does that tell us about them? How much of their messaging is about their commitments to us as opposed to their criticism of the other party(ies)? Who is relying on fear of the other?

Which party is most aligned with your values? Which party has given the most clear vision for The Bahamas of tomorrow and has shown the level of competence and commitment necessary to achieve it?

Whatever the answers you find, make the effort to vote next week. The options are, for most us, underwhelming. The truth is that you may not be enthusiastic on May 12. You may not be hopeful. You may not even think it matters.

Remember: That’s by design.

Don’t be convinced that there could be a vote that doesn’t count. Instead of opting out, show up and let your voice be heard in this specific way, knowing that your participation extends beyond May 12. If none of the options appeal to you, you can spoil your ballot. Be counted as one who rejects the options. It’s a day to speak, to mark the ballot, to register discontent, to recommit to being a part of the democratic process and an active participant in governance.

Say what you want, act how you feel, vote like you matter.

Recommendations

1.    The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders by Sarah Aziza. Join Feminist Book Club, hosted by Equality Bahamas and Poinciana Paper Press, in reading this book this month. The publisher describe The Hollow Half as “a brush with death. An ancestral haunting. A century of family secrets. Sarah Aziza’s searing, genre-bending memoir traces three generations of diasporic Palestinians from Gaza to the Midwest to New York City—and back.” Feminist Book Club will meet at Poinciana Paper Press, 12 Parkgate Road, on Wednesday, May 20 at 6pm to discuss the book. Register for updates at tiny.cc/fbc2026.

2.    Feminist Standards for Governance. Equality Bahamas will publish the people’s agenda for 2026 to 2031, a community-sources set of recommendations to guide the next government administration in meeting the needs of the people while leveraging our knowledge and skills as active participants in governance. Join the mailing list at equality-bahamas.kit.com to be among the first to receive the people’s agenda and follow @equality242 on Instagram for updates, shareable material, and announcements of in-person and virtual events designed for the public to engage with the recommendations.