Editorial: Free National Movement (FNM) suffered one of the most bruising electoral performances in its modern history! Sounds like Ingraham wants PINTARD GONE!
EDITORIAL: The recent general election in The Bahamas produced a result that was decisive long before the final constituencies reported, but now the numbers more clearly show what happened.
The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) returned to office with a commanding parliamentary majority, while the Free National Movement (FNM) suffered one of the most bruising electoral performances in its modern history.
Amid that collapse, much of the post-election discussion turned to the Coalition of Independents (COI) and whether Lincoln Bain’s movement spoiled the election for the FNM.
The numbers do not support that suggestion.
The COI certainly generated attention. It has mastered that.
It dominated segments of social media conversation, attracted anti-establishment voters and built a level of visibility unusual for a third force in Bahamian politics.
Nationally, the coalition accumulated more than 17,000 votes, far exceeding its 2021 performance.
But when the constituency results are examined carefully, the reality is that even if every single COI vote had been added directly to the FNM in many constituencies, the PLP still would have won comfortably.
Take Bain Town. The COI polled 358 votes there. Add every one of those votes to the FNM’s 739, and the PLP still wins the seat with 2,057 votes.
In Nassau Village, the COI secured 698 votes. Add those to the FNM’s 851, and the PLP still remains ahead with more than 2,100 votes.
In Mount Moriah, the coalition polled 531 votes; the FNM 1,135. Yet the PLP still won decisively with 2,253 votes.
In Sea Breeze, the COI received 565 votes; the FNM received 930 but the PLP overwhelmed the field with 2,911 votes.
In Golden Gates, the coalition secured 565 votes; the FNM 984. The PLP still carried the constituency comfortably with more than 2,200 votes.
In Fort Charlotte, the COI received 373 votes; the FNM got 1,082. But the PLP still won with 2,101 votes (CORRECTION 3,386).
In Elizabeth, the coalition received 544 votes, while the PLP dominated with 2,258.
In Fox Hill, the coalition secured 526 votes. The PLP still won with more than 2,100 votes.
The same pattern repeated itself in Englerston, Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, Exuma and Ragged Island, Central and South Eleuthera, Bimini and the Berry Islands, North Andros, Central, Mangrove Cay and South Andros, Garden Hills, Centreville, Pineridge, and St. Barnabas.
Where the FNM won in East Grand Bahama, Marco City, and St. Anne’s, if all the COI votes had gone to the PLP, it would not have made a difference either.
Bain was by far the strongest COI performer.
He got 1,137 votes, outperforming the FNM candidate’s 986. But the PLP still won the seat with 1,497 votes.
The COI also outperformed the FNM in Englerston.
The overall result was politically embarrassing for the FNM, but it was not evidence that the COI was on the verge of winning seats across the country.
The post-election temptation among many will be to blame the COI for the scale of the FNM’s defeat.
The COI clearly resonated with a segment of the electorate frustrated with traditional politics and attracted to outsider rhetoric, confrontation and anti-political messaging.
But social media enthusiasm and electoral viability are not the same thing.
Viral clips do not automatically translate into constituency operations, polling station strength or broad national coalitions.
Much of the COI phenomenon appeared driven by political theater.
The movement generated outrage, entertainment, livestream moments and endless online discussion.
It became part protest movement, part internet spectacle.
But elections are still won on constituency math, organization and broad voter appeal.
That the FNM knew that and still performed so dismally is a further indictment on the party.
The math from election night remains brutally clear.
The PLP outpolled the FNM nationally by more than 20,000 votes.
The governing party’s victory was too large and too broad-based for the COI to affect anything even in the dream scenario where every vote cast for them was cast for the FNM.
In a much closer election the COI could have altered the outcome.
In a razor-thin national contest, several hundred votes in marginal constituencies can become decisive.
But this election was nowhere near close.
What happened here was a dominant PLP victory, an FNM collapse and a third-party movement that was pretty much all sound and fury.
The COI was no spoiler.
It merely exposed how much ground the FNM had already lost.
