Dear Editor,
RE: Members of the Free National
Movement are deeply concerned about recent reports that the leadership of the FNM are organizing and holding constituency association elections even after a convention date has been announced and after nominations for the convention has officially been closed. It is our belief that to continue to hold these elections are a blatant attempt by the Chairman and Secretary General of the party to assist in placing persons in positions to support not only themselves but the Leader of the party, Michael Pintard.
The leadership of the party has had two years since the last convention to organize and hold elections in these constituencies but it’s very suspicious that all of a sudden there is this mad dash to organize and hold elections in a number of these constituencies not only in New Providence but throughout the Family of Islands as well. The question is, are there enough people in each of these constituencies who are legally eligible to run for positions in these constituency elections? Are the individuals running in these elections financial and have they attended the required amount of constituency meetings that each person must meet in order to participate in these elections? The facts are that no one in the Free National Movement really knows if these elections are even been held legally and no one is even sure if any of the people being elected even met the legal requirements. FNM’s see this as an abuse of power and a desperate attempt to influence the vote during the upcoming party convention.
The sad reality is that FNM’s can’t really trust the actions of the Chairman or the Secretary General, especially after both were taken to court recently by women in the party who accused them of interfering with the register of the recently held Women’s Association elections. We are calling on the Chairman of the Free National Movement, Dr Duane Sands and Secretary General of the party, Serfent Rolle to immediately cease and desist from holding any further constituency elections. It is strongly believed that every recent constituency election was influenced by both men to favor Michael Pintard and his supporters against any and every one running against Mr Pintard or any of the candidates he supports. If this is allowed to continue, it will place the integrity of the elections of June 1st 2024 in great jeopardy and it will mean that if the results of the elections heavily favor Mr Pintard, we will have no other choice to assume that the process was tainted and that they cheated and that the vote should be deemed invalid. What the Chairman and the Secretary General are doing by holding these rushed constituency elections is simply wrong, unethical and unfair. FNM’s must stand up and demand that this situation is immediately addressed and that these constituency elections are put on hold until after the one day convention on June 1st 2024.
Signed Concerned FNMs
