On the eve of The Bahamas’ hotly contested general election, Free National Movement (FNM) leader Michael Pintard brought his party’s campaign to a close Saturday night with a sweeping call for national change, positioning the opposition as a transformative alternative to the incumbent Davis administration that has left thousands of Bahamians struggling economically.
Speaking to a fired-up crowd of supporters at a rally held near the former Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, Pintard framed the FNM’s core mission as restoring public trust in national governance, promising Bahamians a new administration rooted in honesty, transparency, and tangible improvements to everyday quality of life.
“Tonight, we’ve come to make the case that things can in fact be different,” Pintard told the audience. “We are asking you once again to invest your trust in a team that promises to serve you in humility, to be honest in the conduct of public affairs, and to be open and transparent with you about how every decision is made.”
Pintard opened his critique of the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) by questioning the impact of billions in value-added tax revenue collected by the Davis administration, asking supporters what tangible improvements Bahamians have actually seen in critical areas of daily life. “They’ve earned a tremendous amount of money and we are left to ask: What have they done with the money? What can we touch and feel that has made a difference in the most fundamental areas of our lives?” he said.
The FNM leader cast the upcoming election as a defining battle for expanded economic opportunity, particularly for marginalized groups including young Bahamians, frontline healthcare workers, small business entrepreneurs, and working families struggling to make ends meet.
Opening up about his personal background, Pintard reflected on his upbringing in a single-parent public-school household, crediting his mother with building the character and determination that led him to the final campaign rally of a national election. “I had no idea that one night I’d be on a stage at the last rally before a poll in one of the greatest countries on this side of glory,” he said.
Pintard emphasized that the national government holds a fundamental “duty of care” to help children and young people build a more prosperous future than the current generation inherited, while warning against the rise of a system where personal and professional success depends exclusively on political connections rather than merit.
He laid out the FNM’s key policy pledges ahead of the vote: the construction of 5,000 new affordable homes over a five-year term, the expansion of public healthcare staffing with 100 additional doctors and more than 200 new nursing positions, targeted grants and low-interest loans to grow small and medium entrepreneurship, and intentional economic diversification to reduce The Bahamas’ longstanding reliance on tourism and financial services. Pintard also highlighted the party’s priorities around strengthening national food security, protecting domestic fisheries, expanding technology infrastructure, and unlocking new economic opportunities in the blue and green economies. “We believe this country can grow on more than just tourism and financial services,” he added.
On governance reform, Pintard pledged to implement long-delayed national Freedom of Information legislation to enforce greater government accountability and transparency, telling supporters he has no fear of open records because the FNM has no corrupt activity to hide. “I’m not scared of freedom of information because we ain’t going to be doing no crookedness,” he said.
The opposition leader also spoke forcefully about strengthening border protection and upholding national sovereignty, promising to prioritize Bahamian workers for all available jobs and economic opportunities across the country. “We will never displace Bahamians who should have first option — first dibs — on all things in our country,” he said. Pintard closed his remarks by urging supporters to turn out in force to vote, framing the election as a once-in-a-generation defining moment that will shape the nation’s trajectory for years to come.
Before Pintard took the stage, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, a towering figure within the FNM, addressed the crowd to ramp up pressure on the incumbent administration, urging Bahamians to vote the PLP out of office to allow a new government to audit the nation’s public finances and citizenship records.
Ingraham accused the Davis administration of failing to address a laundry list of public concerns, ranging from weak governance oversight and reckless public spending to fraudulent Bahamian passports, strained public healthcare services, and uncompetitive no-bid government contracts. He directly asked the crowd whether the PLP had earned a second term in office, delivering a sharp rebuke: “They haven’t earned it, don’t give it to them. They have failed to properly address multiple allegations against their governance, fraudulent Bahamian passports, excessive unexplained public expenditure, healthcare system in crisis, inadequate and inefficient public services.”
The former prime minister added that the administration’s consistent inability to pay its public obligations and the award of “large numbers of no bid contracts for suspiciously exorbitant sums of money to a favored few are all good reasons” to deny the PLP another term. “It’s time for someone else to check our books,” Ingraham stressed. “Someone needs to check the books, the treasury, and somebody needs to check our citizenship record. If for no other reason, you vote tomorrow, vote for somebody else to have a look at the books.”
Ingraham also defended Pintard against recent PLP criticism that the FNM leader lacks sufficient executive experience to serve as prime minister, noting that every first-time prime minister takes office without prior experience in the nation’s top job. He added that Pintard is already a tested leader, having served in two different cabinet positions during a previous FNM administration. “I hear some of them talking about experience, and how critical it is for a prime minister to have experience,” Ingraham said. “Well, the first thing is, nobody who gets elected for the first time has any experience as prime minister.”
