On Friday, the Free National Movement (FNM), one of The Bahamas’ major opposition political parties, launched its first campaign rally on the island of Abaco, where it revealed an extensive series of policy pledges tailored to local priorities and launched sharp criticism of the incumbent Davis administration led by the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).
Speaking to a gathering of more than 200 FNM supporters in Cooper’s Town, FNM leader Michael Pintard opened his address by arguing that the current national government has systematically neglected Abaco’s needs for years. He pointed to a long list of unaddressed local grievances: crumbling road infrastructure with unfilled potholes and unpaved stretches that have remained unrepaired more than four years after contracts were awarded for projects on other Bahamian islands, strained and underresourced local health systems, and outdated, inadequate recreational sports facilities. Pintard leveraged these gaps to attack the PLP’s spending priorities, contrasting large government outlays for official travel and high-profile party events with the lack of investment in basic Abaco services. “Millions for a trip, but pennies for the port here in Abaco. Millions for a rally, but only promises for your roads. Millions flowing through their slush funds while Abaco waits on a working X-ray machine,” Pintard told the crowd.
Beyond infrastructure and public resourcing, Pintard also accused the ruling administration of failing to enforce strong protections for Abaco’s critical marine sector, which forms the backbone of much of the island’s tourism and fishing economy. He pledged that if the FNM wins the upcoming election, the party will revise the national Fisheries Act to preserve the country’s fish stocks for future generations of Bahamians.
One key lingering issue that Pintard addressed head-on during the rally was the FNM’s past response to Hurricane Dorian, a devastating storm that hit Abaco hard and remains a source of widespread community frustration. Acknowledging past missteps, Pintard offered a public apology for the party’s flawed response, noting that the FNM is now under new leadership that has learned from past mistakes.
The rally featured remarks from multiple FNM candidates vying for seats representing Abaco and surrounding districts. Jeremy Sweeting, the party’s candidate for Central and South Abaco, laid out the most detailed set of local pledges. Among Sweeting’s promises are the creation of a unified digital maritime platform that would cut red tape and speed up processing for boating and commercial fishing permits and licensing, a policy designed to restore The Bahamas’ status as a top global yachting destination. He also pledged to address chronic power outages by upgrading local electricity infrastructure, resurface the entire highway connecting northern and southern Abaco, construct a new public high school in South Abaco, fully reconstruct the damaged Marsh Harbour port, and reactivate Sandy Point as an official port of entry for international vessels. Additional commitments from Sweeting include expanding affordable housing subdivisions across the island, cutting wait times for Crown Land processing, increasing funding and equipment for local fire departments, and upgrading community sporting facilities.
Terrece Bootle, the FNM’s candidate for North Abaco, emphasized her deep community roots in her address, highlighting the FNM’s past record of delivering progress to Abaco during the previous Ingraham administration. In an impassioned address to attendees, she pushed back against the ruling party’s claims of progress, telling the crowd, “Don’t talk to Abaconions about progress. We know what progress looks like.” Other FNM candidates for regional seats, including Rick Fox running for Garden Hills and Brian Brown vying for Golden Isles, also delivered pledges and fiery campaign messaging to the gathered supporters.
Closing out the event, Pintard reiterated the party’s core economic pledges for Abaco, promising that an FNM government would roll back the controversial boating fees implemented by the Davis administration and streamline bureaucratic processes to make it easier to start and run a local business. A key policy priority he highlighted is redirecting more locally generated revenue back to Abaco, rather than sending the majority of funds to the national treasury in Nassau. “We’ll make sure that the funds that are earned in Abaco, a larger percentage of those funds remain in Abaco rather than go to the Treasury in Nassau,” Pintard said. He also confirmed that the party would double funding for small and medium-sized enterprise grants and loans from the current $50 million to $100 million to support local business growth.
Pintard closed his remarks by appealing to undecided voters, framing the FNM as a clear alternative to the long-standing political establishment that has dominated national governance. “You should know all of these fellas are just alike, but we ain’t like them. We are asking you to support a change,” he said.