Michael Pintard is the Free National Movement (FNM) Problem!

The FNM Has a Michael Pintard Problem!!!!

By James Julmis

The Free National Movement has many problems, but one sits at the centre of them all: Michael Pintard.

After another national rejection, the FNM can no longer pretend that its problem is messaging, timing, money, or machinery.  Those things matter in politics, but leadership sits above all of them.  A party can recover from bad strategy.  A party can recover from poor campaign planning.  A party can recover from division.  What it cannot easily recover from is a leader the public has already decided against.

That is the political burden Michael Pintard now carries.

The Bahamian people have listened to him.  They have watched him.  They have measured him.  They have seen him in Parliament, on the campaign trail, in press conferences, and in moments when serious leadership was required.  Their answer has been clear.  They have declined to follow him.

That is the hard truth the FNM must now face.

Pintard has struggled to connect with ordinary Bahamians because he often sounds like a man speaking at people rather than with them.  His politics feels rehearsed, distant, and overly calculated.  He talks about the people, but he has failed to make the people feel that he truly knows their daily lives, their pressures, their fears, and their hopes.

Politics is about trust.  It is about whether people can look at a leader and say, “That person understands me.”  With Pintard, too many Bahamians see performance without connection.  They see volume without warmth.  They see criticism without comfort.  They see ambition without a clear reason to believe.

This is why the FNM has a Pintard problem.

The party may want to blame the PLP.  It may want to blame the timing of the election.  It may want to blame the media, the voters, or the national mood.  But none of that changes the result.  The public looked at the choice placed before them and decided that Michael Pintard was unready to lead the country.

That judgment cannot be brushed aside.

The FNM must ask itself a serious question: if Michael Pintard could not persuade the country after years in opposition, after repeated opportunities to define himself, and after a campaign built around removing the government, what evidence is there that the public will suddenly see him differently?

There comes a point when a party must stop protecting a leader from political reality.

Pintard’s weakness is deeper than one election cycle.  It is about temperament, image, connection, and credibility.  He has never found a language that reaches beyond the FNM base.  He has never fully settled the question of who he is as a national leader.  He has never made Bahamians feel that he carries the emotional weight of the country.

That is why he remains limited.

The Bahamian people may disagree with the government on issues.  They may complain about the cost of living, crime, bureaucracy, and the pressure of daily life.  But disagreement with the government does automatically become support for the opposition.  The FNM assumed public frustration would be enough. It was wrong.

People may want better.  That does not mean they want Pintard.

This is the central failure of his leadership.  He has been unable to turn public concern into public confidence.  He has been unable to turn criticism of the government into belief in himself.  He has been unable to make the FNM feel like a government-in-waiting.

That is a personal political failure.

The FNM must now decide whether it wants to keep managing Pintard’s image or begin rebuilding the party.  It cannot do both.  A party serious about renewal must be honest about why the public pulled away.  It must listen to what the country has already said.

Bahamians have made their judgment.

They do not see Michael Pintard as the answer.

And until the FNM accepts that, it will continue to confuse movement with progress, noise with leadership, and opposition with readiness.

The FNM has a Michael Pintard problem.

The longer it denies it, the longer it will remain exactly where the Bahamian people have placed it: in opposition.

Source / Comment

Dr. Andre Rollins for FNM leader

The Free National Movement (FNM) needs New Leadership!

Rolling with Rollins for FNM Leader

By Dennis A. Dames

The blessed smoke of the 2026 general election in The Bahamas has officially cleared, and a lot about it is being heard quietly and vociferously here, there and everywhere.

The opposition Free National Movement (FNM) has some bold and popular adjustments to make - no doubt.  The main one concerns the party’s leadership moving forward to the next general election.  In my view, the entire present leadership of the FNM has got to go.

I have been intensely contemplating the question about the next leader of the FNM - the one whom I feel is the most fit and qualified among the elected members of the party.

I must testify that the good Lord moves in mysterious ways, as I wondered how Dr. Andre Rollins got that Long Island FNM nomination.  Now I have the gut feeling that Dr. Rollins is best fit for the new leader of the FNM.

Dr. Andre Rollins should be crowned FNM leader as soon as possible; and the official campaign for the next general election should immediately follow.

Indeed, search for and welcome more Lincoln Deal and Michaela Barnett-Ellis in the FNM front-line fold - and dump the dead weights without mercy and delay.

The Timing Question of The Bahamas 2026 General Election

THE BAHAMAS GENERAL ELECTION 2026 - CONSTITUTIONAL TIMING & POLITICAL REALITY: WHY NOW?

By Craig F. Butler

Let’s deal with this clearly and honestly.

If the House of Assembly first sat on 6 October 2021, then the constitutional position is straightforward:

• Five-year life of Parliament: ends around 5 October 2026

  

• Election window after that: up to 90 days

  

• Absolute constitutional outer limit: early January 2027

So let’s kill the noise:

- There is no requirement to call an election now.

  

- The Prime Minister had time well into late 2026, and even beyond into the constitutional window.

So why call it now?

This is where politics meets timing.  The national budget cycle is the real driver.

• Budget must be presented before July 1

  

• That means budget debate occupies June

  

• And budget debate is not light work—it is a full exposure of:

  – Government spending  

  – Overruns  

  – Travel expenditure  

  – Consultant usage  

  – Programme delivery vs promises  

In short:

A budget debate forces the government to account for everything.

The Strategic Calculation

If you:

• claim hundreds of promises delivered, and

  

• have areas of pressure (cost of living, crime, healthcare), and

  

• carry visible overruns (travel, operational spending, etc.),

then the last thing you want is a full month of structured parliamentary scrutiny immediately before an election.

Because that debate would not be campaign rhetoric.

It would be:

- numbers  

- line-by-line exposure  

- hard questioning on delivery vs claims

So the timing makes sense.  Calling the election before the budget cycle does three things:

• Avoids a prolonged public dissection of government finances

  

• Prevents the opposition from weaponizing budget details

  

• Keeps the campaign on narrative, not forensic accounting

Bottom Line

This is not about constitutional necessity.  This is about political timing.

The Constitution allowed more time.  The calendar created pressure.  The budget would have created exposure.

So the election is called before the numbers take center stage.

Understand the Constitution. Understand the calendar.  Then understand the decision.

Sunday April 12 2026 

Time 12:01 AM EST

Source / Comments

Voting Rights in The Bahamas

VOTING IN THE BAHAMAS: THERE IS NO ENGLISH-LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT TO VOTE

By Craig Butler, Esq.

Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas

There appears to be continued public confusion, and in some quarters active political misstatement, concerning whether a person must be able to speak English in order to vote in The Bahamas.

Let this be stated plainly:

There is no provision in the Constitution of The Bahamas requiring a voter to speak English in order to vote.  Voting rights in this jurisdiction are tied to legal eligibility, not language proficiency.

Under the constitutional and statutory framework, the relevant qualifications concern citizenship, age, and proper registration on the electoral roll.  A qualified voter must be a citizen of The Bahamas, at least eighteen years of age, and duly registered in accordance with the electoral law.  There is no separate constitutional or statutory condition imposing English-language ability as a prerequisite to the franchise.

That distinction is important.

The right to vote is not made dependent upon eloquence, accent, literacy style, or spoken fluency in English.  Any suggestion to the contrary is not a statement of Bahamian law.  It is political rhetoric masquerading as legal rule.

The Constitution does not condition citizenship-based franchise rights on language ability.  Nor does the Parliamentary Elections framework create such a bar.  The legal question is eligibility.  It is not linguistic preference.

Accordingly, any public claim that a Bahamian citizen must speak English in order to vote should be recognized for what it is: misinformation, political spin, or constitutional illiteracy.

This matter should not be clouded by emotion or opportunistic nationalism.  If there is to be public debate about changing the law, let that debate be honest and explicit.  But until such a change is lawfully made, the law remains what it is.

And what it is, is this:

Voting in The Bahamas is not language-based.  It is citizenship-based, age-based, and registration-based.

That is the legal position.  That remains the constitutional position.  And the public deserves clarity, not confusion.

Key Points for the Public

 • There is no English-speaking requirement for voting in The Bahamas.

 • Voting rights are tied to citizenship, age, and voter registration.

 • Claims that English proficiency is legally required are false.

 • Political opinion is not constitutional law.

Tuesday, 7 April 2026

10:18 PM

Source / Comment

The Corrupt Nature of Bahamian Politics in The Bahamas

Election Politics in The Bahamas: Who gets to eat - and who doesn't

By Craig Butler:

Bahamian elections are too often not about governance.  They are about access.

Access to contracts.  Access to appointments.  Access to the Treasury.  That is the sickness.

The winning party does not merely win office.  It gains control over how roughly $1 billion in public contracts is distributed.

And too often the real contest is not over policy; it is over who gets fed.

That is not nation-building.  That is budget politics dressed up as democracy.

Source / Comment

More Haitians in The Bahamas Arrested for Possession of Fraudulent Bahamian Passports, National Insurance Board Cards, and Voters Cards in 2026

TWO MORE HAITIAN NATIONALS ARRESTED WITH FRAUDULENT BAHAMIAN PASSPORTS AND VOTERS CARD.

Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas: An 18-year-old Haitian man accused of fraudulently obtaining a Bahamian passport and voter’s card was remanded to prison yesterday after prosecutors said they used the documents at the Lynden Pindling International Airport.

Max Veve Pierre and Gersey Pierre, 59, are accused of agreeing on December 23, 2024, to fraudulently obtain a Bahamian passport.

Prosecutors allege the pair secured a passport in Max’s name from the Passport Office on February 3, 2025.

Authorities further allege that Max uttered the fraudulent passport at the Parliamentary Registry on January 23 to obtain a Bahamian voter’s card.  He is also accused of presenting the same passport to immigration officers at LPIA on February 24, where the alleged scheme unravelled.

Max was charged with three counts of possession of a false document, two counts of uttering a false document and fraud by false pretences.

Both men face additional charges of fraud by false pretences and conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences.

The accused, both construction workers, pleaded not guilty before Senior Magistrate Anishka Isaacs.

They were remanded to The Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until their trial begins on May 21.

Inspector Timothy Bain was the prosecutor.

This brings the total to 23 Haitian nationals arrested and charged in The Bahamas with possession of fraudulent passports, NIB cards and voters card so far for the year 2026.

Source / Comment

Marvin Dames is Still Standing Strong and Smiling

Marvin Dames' Still standing... Still smiling

I am deeply grateful to those who continue to stand with me, trust me, and believe me, while believing in me.  I am filled with emotion and sincere appreciation for the group of people I sit before today.  Though they represent just a microcosm of our beautiful Mt. Moriah community, they have become family.  They have stood beside me through every single season.

Most importantly, they have loved me and cared for me from the very beginning of my political journey, and for that, I owe them more than words can express.

With that said, we will not be deterred.  We will not be distracted.  We have a country to fix, and we will remain steadfast in that mission.

I love you. I love you. I love you, Mt. Moriah. ❤️

Source / Comment