As The Bahamas heads toward a general election, the opposition Free National Movement (FNM) launched its first national campaign rally on the island of Grand Bahama Saturday, positioning itself as a corrective to the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) whose term the party decries as a half-decade of broken pledges, stagnant growth and mismanagement.
Speaking to supporters at FNM’s Grand Bahama headquarters, party leader Michael Pintard opened his address by urging registered voters to oust Prime Minister Philip Davis’ current administration, centering his critique on the island’s long-stalled Grand Lucayan redevelopment project. Pintard took direct aim at the PLP’s recent public statement regarding a proposed beach club tied to the multi-year development, dismissing the announcement as nothing more than pre-election political theater designed to feign progress after years of inaction.
“They issued a statement saying they welcomed a new partnership announcement, they didn’t announce that it’s been signed, sealed, and delivered,” Pintard told the crowd. “They didn’t say that the money was in the bank. They said they welcomed an agreement. You see, you can’t claim progress when you haven’t left the starting line.”
Pintard reminded attendees of two high-profile, unfulfilled promises the PLP made to Grand Bahama voters when it campaigned for office four and a half years prior: the full sale of the Grand Lucayan property and construction of a new world-class airport on the island. To date, Pintard argued, neither commitment has been realized. He added that former workers at the shuttered Grand Lucayan hotel have still not received owed compensation, and the abandoned property currently sits closed without access to running water.
Beyond stalled development, Pintard called for sweeping reform of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, arguing the current institutional structure creates unacceptable conflicts of interest between its regulatory and commercial functions, and lacks basic accountability mechanisms.
Turning from island-specific concerns to national policy, FNM’s leader accused the sitting Davis administration of effectively abandoning its governing responsibilities five months ahead of the end of its five-year term, leaving critical legislative priorities on immigration and national security unaddressed ahead of the upcoming vote. Pointing to recent allegations of fraudulent voter identification cards circulating in the country, Pintard called on the PLP to deliver a full public explanation of the controversy, and outlined a hardline new immigration policy for his party.
“And so I want to say it plainly, no one who comes into the Bahamas illegally will ever have a pathway to citizenship in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,” Pintard stated. He introduced FNM’s proposed Operation SHIELD, an initiative that would strengthen border security protocols, expand enforcement capacity and increase transparency around immigration processes.
FNM Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright followed Pintard’s address with a sharp rebuke of the administration’s national security track record, highlighting a sharp uptick in armed robberies across the country and accusing government officials of deliberately withholding complete crime data from the public. Cartwright noted that Prime Minister Davis recently claimed his administration’s crime reduction strategy was delivering results during a constituency tour – a claim directly undercut the same day by the national Police Commissioner, who confirmed armed robbery rates were rising.
Cartwright further alleged that frontline law enforcement, Customs and Immigration officers are underpaid, under-resourced, and even locked out of access to routine medical care because the government has failed to pay their group insurance premiums. “The safety of this country is not a talking point,” he said. “You cannot grow an economy in a country where people are afraid to open their front doors.”
Other FNM candidates used the rally to highlight pressing local social and economic concerns impacting Grand Bahama residents. Dr. Charlene Reid, a party candidate, noted that long-promised infrastructure upgrades at Rand Memorial Hospital remain unfinished, including critical renovations to the facility’s morgue. Candidate Frazette Gibson drew attention to deteriorating conditions at public schools across the island, adding that overstretched teachers are already operating beyond their capacity to support students.
Candidate Omar Isaacs highlighted that Grand Bahama’s youth unemployment rate remains stubbornly above 20 percent, warning that limited economic opportunity is pushing young people to leave the island in search of work elsewhere. To reverse that trend, Isaacs outlined FNM proposals including a weekly stipend for trainees in workforce development programs and a $100 million fund to support homegrown Bahamian entrepreneurs.
The opening rally concluded with a celebratory motorcade through Grand Bahama and a fireworks display, with Pintard closing by expressing confidence that FNM will secure all five of the island’s parliamentary seats in the upcoming election.