The Free National Movement (FNM) last night ratified 12 candidates, including NBA legend Rick Fox who got the nod for Garden Hills.
The party now only has two seats left for ratification — MICAL and Marco City, which will no doubt be filled by FNM Leader Michael Pintard.
At the party’s Mackey Street headquarters, Pintard unveiled the new candidates, noting that “we’re in the home stretch now”.
In addition to Fox, FNM Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright was ratified for the newly created seat St. James.
Cartwright is currently the MP for St. Barnabas.
“The party asked me to go in St. James,” Cartwright said.
“I am grateful and thankful to the people of St. Barnabas for bringing me into their homes. This is not goodbye. I will always have a relationship with the people of St. Barnabas. I grew up in the St. James constituency in Mount Pleasant so I’m going back home.”
Jamal Moss was ratified for St. Barnabas.
Dr. Andre Rollins was ratified for Long Island. He will replace current MP, Adrian Gibson.
Carlton Bowleg, who was ratified last year for North Andros and the Berry Islands, was ratified again, this time for the new seat Bimini and The Berry Islands.
Also ratified last night were Jay Philippe for Bain and Grants Town; Janice Oliver, North Andros; Mike Holmes, Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador; Charlene Reid, Pineridge; Darvin Russel, Centreville; Julian Gibson, Mangrove Cay and South Andros; and Gadville McDonald, Nassau Village.
Pintard told the crowd of FNMs that if elected, his administration would serve with humility.
“We care about this country and it’s future,” he said.
He continued, “We will open up every book once we are elected, so you can see what is behind the decisions that this government has made.
“We will serve you every day, not with arrogance but with humility. We will not be traveling around the globe on air and on your dime.”
The party ratified 28 candidates last year, before the Constituencies Commission’s report was tabled in Parliament last month. As noted, that report recommended the creation of two new seats — St. James in western New Providence and Bimini and The Berry Islands.
After the fanfare in the main hall of the party’s headquarters, the new candidates went into a smaller room to take questions from the press.
Earlier this year, Fox said he intended to run for St. James. At the time he said he would decide whether he would align with a political party, but stressed he is prepared to run as an independent candidate in the 2026 general election. Fox previously said that both the FNM and Progressive Liberal Party were trying to court him.
Asked last night why he joined the FNM and why run in Garden Hills, Fox said he shared the vision of the FNM and Pintard.
“There are a multitude of areas I think I could have reached out and done a really good job in,” he said.
“I voiced publicly where I have residence. ... I thought I could do good work there. As I continued to work with the leader and continued to work with the party and to look at the strategy that is in place to move forward to win the government, it’s not about me and where I want to serve, it’s about where we as a group could serve the country the best.
“Garden Hills is an example of a community that needs the service at a different level than it is getting now. In talking with them, I offered myself to be in the best place I could serve in.”
Fox, who has been criticized by some as an outsider, defended his Bahamian heritage.
“I never left home,” he said.
“I went to work and I went to school. My family lives here. I live here. My whole entire life exists here.”