Tribune Staff Reporter
pturnquest@tribunemedia.net:
Candidate's lack of voting record called into question
TO A SOCIETY that often finds itself at odds at one point or the other with the decisions of its government, a citizen's right to vote is his or her ultimate political weapon in truly effecting the change that they wish to see on the political landscape of their country.
In short, many feel that it is their right, and some would say their responsibility, to participate in a process that many of our forefathers were denied.
In the constituency of Elizabeth, the people have spoken, and their voices are being heard -- however faintly -- by the two major political parties. They showed us, quite rightly, that Bahamians not only have the right to vote, but they also have the right not to vote, as was seen by the nearly 1,700 persons who opted not to show up at the polls on February 16th.
The reasons for their decision are theirs alone, and quite frankly, too numerous to speculate on at this time.
On February 15th, however, the Bahamian people were enlightened by the little known fact that one of the candidates in the Elizabeth by-election has never voted in an election in the Bahamas before. In fact, according to the Minister of National Security, Tommy Turnquest, Mr Pinder had only recently registered in the Bahamas in October 2008.
"He has never voted in the Bahamas before!" Mr Turnquest exclaimed.
"Not in 1997 when he was 22 years old, not in 2002, nor in 2007. He is now 35 years old and he has never voted in the Bahamas."
Having voted up until March of last year in the United States, Mr Turnquest said that Mr Pinder has only ever voted where he was a citizen and where he was "interested" in the affairs of that country.
While the PLP has cried shame on the FNM for seeking to raise this matter, it is not out of the realm of mature political dialogue that this matter be debated.
How can residents of Elizabeth truly believe in a candidate whose voting record in the Bahamas cannot be verified? I can recall having conversations with PLPs who were measuring their loyalty and devotion to the party not only by the number of times they voted for the PLP, but in how many elections they had continued to toe the party line.
As it was explained, if you did not stand by the party in 1992, and 1997, you were a "Johnny-come-lately." Voting for the PLP in 2002 was simply "going with the tide", and if you didn't vote for the party in 2007 it was almost certainly considered a betrayal of the highest order.
Ballot
Grown men and women sit and argue for hours about why they have gone through the oftentimes long and tedious process of casting their ballot for the PLP. Many of them truly believe that their individual votes make a difference and can change the tide of any given election; every vote can help "out the torch". This idea of being a Bahamian, especially a PLP, and simply choosing not to vote, does not register in the minds of many.
How then can the young Mr Pinder explain to these party foot soldiers that he could not be bothered to take the 45-minute flight from Florida to cast his ballot in one very important election in the Bahamas?
For the record, Mr Pinder has renounced his US citizenship and explained that as he was not residing in the Bahamas, he could not vote in this country. He is currently a registered voter for the constituency of Clifton where it is understood he initially planned to run.
However, Mr Pinder's defence has not gone over well with many Bahamians who feel that it was "presumptuous" of the candidate to come to the Bahamas only a short while ago, and seek to represent a constituency right away.
Perhaps Erin Ferguson, who hosts a widely successful new political television programme on JCN TV, put it best on his last show on Thursday night.
He asked the question that has been on the minds of many Bahamians: How is it that Mr Pinder has never voted in the Bahamas?
"Now you tell me, (because) something wrong about this one. You tell me, you eligible to vote from you 18 -- Mr Pinder is 35. That means he could have voted when he was 22 in 1997. He could have voted when he was 27 in 2002. He could have voted when he was 32 in 2007; and the FNM and the PLP does pay for you to come home to vote!
Election
"And further to that, you can't tell me your that your daddy is Marvin Pinder and you can't figure out how to get home for an election? And Mr (Fred) Mitchell said ... he (Mr Pinder) spent most of his time in the Bahamas. And you used your father's name to legitimize yourself as a candidate in the election ... but you can't then say you aren't invested enough to come home and vote or if you are home, to vote."
"And if you tell me that you was in America and was voting in America because that's where you were living and invested at the time, then don't come here and in a couple of years want to run for MP. At least vote once. Just once. That's all I ask. See how it feels. Test this Bahamian thing out."
"I have to tell you, sir, we have the right to ask, if you can't find yourself in the Bahamas to participate in the Bahamian electoral process, we have the right to ask what is it that you have to gain?" he asked.
However blunt and painful his words may have been, Mr Ferguson has a point and his argument holds water.
And while it has not been widely commented on, some FNM's at Thelma Gibson during the recount fiasco questioned the notion of "entitlement" that has permeated both the PLP and the FNM.
There is no greater "turn off" for voters than to feel that a surname will determine who will be their representative and that a particular family will continue to lead them for the rest of their existence.
While those FNM's at Thelma Gibson were seeking to denigrate Mr Pinder, the fact is both parties are guilty of this, and by hook or by crook, it must be stopped.
Representatives should be elected based on their merit and their genuine interest in the people of this country. The rest of the world has shown us many examples where the children of elected leaders have proven to be less than capable of filling their parent's shoes.
When asked for a general response on Mr Pinder's voting record some PLPs brushed the matter aside saying that it was of little consequence and the issue is nothing more than a "red herring" - an "evil scheme" concocted by the FNM to distract voters.
But is this response enough?
Issue
In fact, there is another way to look at this matter. Many would go so far as to say that if it were the FNM who were running Mr Pinder, the issue of him having never voted in the Bahamas would have been a major issue of contention.
We all can imagine the superfluity of rhetoric that would have spewed forth. Many PLP's would have said, 'Does the FNM think we are that gullible? How could they think that we would be satisfied with a man who ain't ever vote in this country to come here and running our affairs?'
From all accounts it appears that even if the PLP are not victorious in their election court challenge, Mr Pinder will still be their candidate of choice for the Elizabeth constituency in the 2012 general election.
If this is the case, it would be wise for Mr Pinder to respond to the criticism that has come his way in regards to this issue. Burying his head in the sand will not do.
If any lesson can be learned from this by-election, it is that voters in the Bahamas seem to expect more from their would-be representatives.
Whether these representatives are listening is another matter; but as with all things, time will tell.
What do you think?
February 22, 2010
tribune242
