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As the Bahamas prepares for its upcoming general election, a growing controversy over political voucher distribution has put both of the country’s major political parties under scrutiny, with questions mounting over whether the practice crosses into illegal vote-buying territory.

Duane Sands, chairman of the Free National Movement (FNM), and Denalee Penn-Mackey, the party’s parliamentary candidate for the Southern Shores constituency, have publicly confirmed that their party has distributed grocery vouchers to constituents, a move that comes after prior allegations against the incumbent Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) over misuse of public funds for similar voter outreach.

In an interview with reporters, Sands acknowledged that voucher purchases from local retail chain Super Value have risen across the political spectrum, with both the FNM and PLP accounting for the increased sales. “There’s nothing unique to any particular political organisation here,” he stated, drawing a nuanced but contested line between legal assistance and illegal electoral inducement. Under the country’s Parliamentary Elections Act, any gift or benefit offered to influence a voter’s choice is a criminal offense. Sands argued that the legality of the practice hinges entirely on intent: while providing food support to households facing food insecurity does not violate the law on its face, he admitted the practice is a “slippery slope” that carries significant potential for abuse.

Sands stressed that even amid the controversy, he would continue assisting constituents facing crisis. “If you come to me today and say that you have no food in your house, I would do the best that I can in order to assist,” he said, noting that he does not have details on the total value or number of vouchers the FNM has acquired overall. He further drew a clear distinction between assistance funded by personal or private political donations and programs backed by public money, arguing that the latter case amounts to a clear violation of electoral law.

The incumbent Davis administration, led by the PLP, has still not responded to explosive allegations made by Chris Lleida, chief executive officer of Premier Importers. Lleida claims that the Bahamian government, not the PLP as a party, covered the cost of more than $200,000 in gift vouchers distributed and signed by PLP election candidates and party officials. Sands called this a “clear-cut violation of the law” and argued that the entire controversy underscores the urgent need for sweeping national campaign finance reform.

Penn-Mackey, for her part, confirmed that she began distributing vouchers in her constituency within the past week, but insisted that all costs are covered by her own personal funds, eliminating any comparison to the PLP’s public funds allegations. “That, along with my whole campaign, is run by my own personal money, so I don’t see how what the PLP has done as it relates to the money you’re spending from the public treasury ties into what I’m doing personally,” she said. The vouchers she distributes are valued at approximately $100 each.

A long-time community philanthropist, Penn-Mackey pushed back against questions about her activities, noting she has provided community support and aid for years independent of her candidacy. “We give out food and vouchers every day. Is that vote buying? The people have a food problem where people come and they said, listen, we need some vouchers. I have no grocery in my house, so when we give them a voucher, is that vote buying?” she asked. Rejecting claims of a double standard between her actions and the allegations against the PLP, she added: “It’s not a double standard because if it’s coming from the public treasury and my vouchers are coming from my personal account, that’s not a double standard at all.”

FNM leader Michael Pintard echoed the argument that assisting vulnerable constituents is a moral obligation regardless of election season, but warned that using public funds for aid that only intensifies or launches right before an election erodes public trust in the democratic process. “If somebody is in need, I don’t think you take an issue with the government, at least certainly me personally, if somebody is hungry they need food assistance, the government is not providing it, you ordinarily provide it, and this is what you’ve been doing, I think you have an obligation to help people who need help,” Pintard said. “That’s a general rule that certainly I’ve lived by all along in and out of political season. If somebody needs help, you help them.”

Even so, Pintard acknowledged that introducing new or expanded assistance programs in the middle of an election cycle reasonably invites public suspicion. “It allows others, others who look on, to presume that it’s politically motivated,” he said. “There are a number of constituencies where persons know, beyond the shadow of doubt their people weren’t about doing, running any social assistance programme, have not provided a social safety net, and all of a sudden, they are offering them around election time. That’s what they’re saying about the government right now. All of a sudden, you just realise that my house was leaking, and you have not been involved in the last four and a half years. You came and did an assessment. Nothing happened until just now.”

To date, the core rules governing electoral conduct in the Bahamas remain clear: offering, giving, or providing any money, gift, or material benefit to a voter with the goal of influencing their ballot selection is classified as a criminal offense under the Parliamentary Elections Act.

Just days ahead of the Bahamas’ scheduled advance polling on April 30, a growing electoral dispute has erupted after opposition Free National Movement (FNM) figures revealed dozens of approved voters have been wrongly omitted from the official advance poll register, with election officials dismissing complaints with shrugs that have further enraged the party.

Travis Robinson, an FNM candidate running in the upcoming general election, told local media that nine eligible voters who met all requirements for early voting were left off the finalized certified list, despite having applied for and received formal authorization to cast advance ballots. Among those impacted are three voters who will be out of the country on the main election day, May 12, meaning they will be completely unable to vote if the error is not corrected before advance polling opens.

Robinson explained he submitted all advance voting applications on April 23 on behalf of three groups of eligible early voters: senior citizens, registered poll workers who would be working on main election day, and voters traveling abroad. When he returned to collect documentation two days later, he only received required L-form certificates for the senior citizens and traveling voters. To date, he says he has not received any L-form certificates for his poll worker applicants, leaving all of them locked out of the advance poll.

The full scope of the error only became clear once the official certified advance register was published. Robinson confirmed all nine applicants met every eligibility requirement set out by election authorities, but their names were still excluded from the final list. When he escalated the issue to senior election officials, including Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson, he was told there was no way to fix the error ahead of polling.

“I subsequently spoke with a senior official at the registry who basically told me, ‘such is life, things happen, we move on,’” Robinson recalled. “I later contacted Mr Thompson, who gave me a similar response, that unfortunately there’s nothing he can do and that it is what it is.”

Robinson called the dismissive response completely unacceptable, warning that the disenfranchisement of these nine voters could be enough to swing the final election result in his competitive constituency. He pointed to recent Bahamian political history to underscore the stakes, noting that a former prime minister once lost his parliamentary seat by a margin of just four votes. He has issued an urgent call for Thompson to immediately amend the advance register to add the missing voters before polling begins.

The impacted voters, Robinson added, are “highly upset” by the error, particularly the three overseas travelers who have no path to vote if the issue remains unaddressed.

The controversy is not isolated to Robinson’s constituency, according to FNM chairman Duane Sands. Sands confirmed that multiple other FNM candidates, including himself and fellow candidate Heather Hunt, have reported identical issues with the advance poll register. He said that beyond omitting eligible voters who completed all required steps, the register also includes the names of voters who never even submitted applications for early voting.

Worse, Sands added, the register contains glaring, basic errors that raise serious questions about the integrity of the process: some entries list voters with birth dates that have not yet occurred, meaning people who have not even been born are listed as approved advance voters.

“When you look at the state of the register — people on the register with birthdays that have not yet come, people who according to the data haven’t even been born yet — and then there are persons who are on the advance poll register who did not apply, in some instances willing to swear an affidavit that they did not apply, and yet they are on the advance poll register, you wonder what is going on,” Sands said.

Sands is now calling for the immediate removal of Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson, arguing that the chaotic errors undermine the legitimacy of the upcoming election. He said the severity of the mistakes leaves two possible explanations, neither of which justify Thompson keeping his post.

“When we see the mess, the chaos, we can ask whether this is just incompetence or whether this is a deliberate act by someone who ought to be relieved of his role as Parliamentary Commissioner forthwith,” he said.

In an official response to the growing controversy, the Parliamentary Registration Department acknowledged the errors, attributing them to limited typographical mistakes and an unexpected technical system glitch. The department downplayed the severity of the issues, arguing that the mistakes will not impact the final outcome of the election.

“These are not consequential to the outcome of the election, as the voter’s card and counterfoil contain the accurate information that will be relied upon on voting day,” the department said in a statement. It urged political leaders to stop framing the errors as evidence of widespread systemic failure, noting that minor processing issues are a normal part of election administration. “The Department remains committed to protecting the integrity of the electoral process,” the statement added.

The ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has pushed back against FNM’s criticism, condemning the opposition’s claims as a “reckless attack on Bahamian democracy.”

“The Bahamas has earned its reputation as one of the strongest democracies in the region through decades of peaceful elections and independent institutions,” the PLP said in its official statement. “To suggest otherwise, for political convenience, damages that reputation abroad and weakens the confidence of Bahamians at home.”

A brewing political scandal in the Bahamas has put the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administration under intense scrutiny, after opposition Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard launched a scathing accusation that the Davis government broke national law by diverting public funds to distribute Hurricane Dorian relief gift certificates branded with PLP election candidates’ names. Pintard has labeled the action “egregious” and is calling for formal criminal charges to be filed against those responsible.

The controversy stems from an earlier Tribune report that confirmed the Ministry of Finance covered the cost of gift certificates distributed to residents of Abaco, designated as post-Hurricane Dorian disaster relief, which bore the signatures of sitting PLP candidates and party officials. Chris Lleida, chief executive officer of Premier Importers – the entity that issued the vouchers – confirmed the distribution was carried out at the explicit request of the Ministry of Finance. Records show the total value of the distributed vouchers exceeds $200,000, with individual certificates issued in denominations of $200, $300 and $500.

As of press time, Office of the Prime Minister representatives have not issued an official public response to the allegations. When contacted for comment, Communications Director Latrae Rahming confirmed that Prime Minister Philip Davis will address the matter with reporters at a future, unspecified date.

Pintard argued that the misuse of taxpayer funds for this purpose constitutes a clear criminal offence under Bahamian law. “It is a crime because you’re using government funds for a narrow political perspective,” he stated, adding that “somebody to pay the price” for the violation. He drew a direct parallel between the current controversy and the so-called “Bermuda scandal”, a previous incident where a PLP delegation trip was initially funded through the Public Treasury before the party reimbursed the cost.

The opposition leader further claimed that the scale of the $200,000 expenditure far exceeds the spending authority granted to the financial secretary, meaning the final approval for the spending would have required sign-off from Prime Minister Davis himself. He added that the situation becomes “even more egregious” with the involvement of Bradley Fox Jr, the PLP’s candidate for Central and South Abaco, who participated in distributing the vouchers despite holding no official government position.

Voucher copies obtained by The Tribune show the e-vouchers distributed to local residents were signed by both Fox and Preston Roberts, the PLP’s national campaign coordinator who also serves as a board member of the government’s Disaster Reconstruction Authority. “You’re talking about somebody who has no standing in government at all and so on multiple levels, this is wrong,” Pintard said. “Somebody should be held to account, and charges should be brought against them or the sanctions, whatever the sanctions are, as outlined in the law, those sanctions should be carried out.”

Under the Bahamas’ Parliamentary Elections Act, offering or distributing money, gifts or other benefits to voters to influence their ballot choice, reward specific voting behavior, or secure a candidate’s election is classified as a criminal offence. The law also penalizes anyone who funds or knowingly facilitates these activities, including the provision of funds intended for electoral bribery.

Critics point out that the incident highlights a longstanding gap in Bahamian election regulation: the country still lacks a comprehensive, enforceable campaign finance framework. There are no binding, clear rules requiring full public disclosure of political campaign spending, nor formal regulations governing the use of public resources during election cycles. Both of the Bahamas’ major political parties have repeatedly pledged to implement a robust campaign finance system over the years, but none have followed through on that promise to date.

Weeks before the Bahamas’ upcoming general election, hundreds of residents on Grand Cay in Abaco have woken up to a life-changing change: their long-accumulated electricity debt balances have been cleared entirely to zero. The sweeping debt relief comes days after Prime Minister Philip Davis made a campaign-focused visit to the hurricane-ravaged island, where he promised residents he would address their crippling billing crisis that has lingered for years.

For long-time resident Jeremy Albury, the relief wiped out $13,500 in accumulated debt that had hung over his head since Hurricane Dorian hit the region in 2019. Fellow resident Barry Albury summed up the overwhelming joy of many in the community, saying “I felt like it was Christmas in April.” Screenshots of local community group chats shared across the island show widespread celebration, with dozens of residents joking that the holiday season had arrived months early alongside the unexpected debt cancellation.

But the sudden, last-minute intervention has immediately drawn sharp questions from critics and residents alike, who question whether the policy is a pre-election tactic to sway voter turnout rather than a long-overdue fix for a systemic problem. Under the Bahamas’ Parliamentary Elections Act, providing gifts, cash or other benefits to voters with the goal of influencing their ballot choice is a criminal offense, a regulation that is expected to draw increased scrutiny in the wake of this announcement.

In an official statement defending the move, the Davis administration framed the debt cancellation as a resolution to a decades-old billing crisis sparked by overlapping disasters. The government explained that normal billing and collection operations were completely upended after Hurricane Dorian tore through Abaco, and subsequent disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the problem. During that period, residents faced widespread financial hardship, limited access to in-person banking services, and strict travel and business restrictions that made paying bills nearly impossible for many. The administration also noted that under the previous government, residents were explicitly told they would not be required to pay their accumulated balances during the emergency period, but system administrators continued to add the charges to resident accounts anyway.

After reviewing the issue, the government determined that the ballooning balances were entirely the result of circumstances outside of consumers’ control. To resolve the crisis, the state will absorb all eligible outstanding balances through an offsetting agreement with national utility provider Bahamas Power and Light, placing no financial burden on affected residents. Officials described the move as part of a broader pledge to fix unfinished problems inherited from the previous administration, rather than an election-year stunt.

This debt relief effort comes on the heels of a separate recent report from The Tribune that revealed the Bahamian government, not the ruling Progressive Liberal Party, funded more than $200,000 in gift certificates distributed to Abaco residents via local distributor Premier Importers, according to the company’s chief executive. To date, the Davis administration has not issued any formal response to those claims, with Communications Director Latrae Rahming only confirming that the prime minister would address reporters at a future, unannounced date.

Local residents confirm that the massive electricity bills first began accumulating after Hurricane Dorian destroyed much of Abaco’s infrastructure, when routine billing stopped entirely and unpaid charges compounded over the years. Some residents reported seeing total balances exceed $60,000, a sum far out of reach for most low-income households on the island. During a town hall meeting with Grand Cay residents last week, Davis acknowledged the crippling burden the debt placed on the community, promised to clear the balances and committed to delivering additional housing renovation supplies to the area.

Jeremy Albury, who has helped distribute the new housing supplies to residents, confirmed the prime minister kept his promise ahead of schedule. “So said, so done,” he said, adding that “The supplies are stuff to renovate a lot of people’s homes. More stuff coming on Wednesday.” Residents estimate the total cost of clearing all outstanding electricity bills across Grand Cay and nearby Moore’s Island exceeds $500,000.

While hundreds of eligible residents have welcomed the relief, not everyone is convinced of the policy’s good intentions. Grand Cay resident Steven Russell called the move an obvious election tactic designed to shore up support for ruling party candidates in a competitive constituency. “Everybody knows it’s a tactic because they know Cornish did not represent his constituency well,” he explained, referring to incumbent Member of Parliament Kirk Cornish. “They know that and they know which areas they are in trouble. That’s why they up in Abaco, they sharing like $200 gift certificates.”

Another local resident, Maxwell, said the last-minute relief does little to make up for years of neglect from the national government. “That can’t really do nothing after five or six years,” he said.

Grand Cay, a small island community that is home to just over 500 permanent residents, has struggled for years with substandard core infrastructure, including unreliable electricity, clean water access and telecommunications service. The constituency is widely seen as a competitive race in the upcoming general election, making any last-minute voter outreach particularly high-stakes for both major political parties.