Yet another Caribbean Community prime minister has asked his nation to prepare for general elections later this year.
Phillip Davis of The Bahamas told incumbent Progressive Labor Party (PLP) supporters this week to prepare for a second PLP term even as the main opposition, Free National Movement (FNM), says it is confident of wresting power from the PLP.
General elections were last held in the mini archipelago off Florida in mid-September 2021, with Davis and his party winning 32 of the 39 seats in a landslide victory.
But with changing economic fortunes, rising felony gun crimes and a slowdown in tourist arrivals since the Trump administration took office, the FNM is fancying its chances of either winning the polls outright or vastly reducing the PLP’s majority. Davis has not yet named a date but has dropped strong hints that it will be soon as elections are constitutionally due by year-end.
“Get battle ready. The fight is coming, and we are going to meet it with unity, with power. The PLP has defeated many things — economic collapse, political attacks, and an opposition with no plan or purpose. But the one thing we cannot afford to fight is ourselves. We cannot waste time pulling each other down while we’re trying to lift the country up,” the PM told a weekend party forum.
His announcement of an imminent election comes just days before Surinamese vote in elections on May 25 and less than a month after Trinidadians elected a new government on April 28.
So far this year, elections have been held in Belize, Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), Bermuda, Curacao, the Cayman Islands, and Trinidad in the extended CARICOM bloc. Others constitutionally slated are Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Vincent, representing a near-record year in the grouping for elections.
Meanwhile, PLP Deputy Chairman Obie Roberts says the party will launch on Labor Day, June 6, with a massive street march and rally.
“We plan to march in mass numbers as crabs to demonstrate our might, our force, and our commitment as the PLP and the government of The Bahamas. PLPs, we are looking forward to you coming out in great numbers. We want to see no less than five, six, seven, 8,000 of us. When we get to the top of East Street Hill, we want to see the numbers go all the way back to Wulff Road,” he said.
