The FNM Conceded the Next Election. BAIN & GRANTS TOWN IS PROOF!

There are many ways to lose an election. One of the most effective is to pretend you are still fighting while quietly accepting defeat.

That increasingly appears to be the Free National Movement’s posture.

Reliable political sources suggest that within senior FNM circles, there is a prevailing view that this upcoming election is not worth heavy investment. The phrase being whispered is telling: don’t “throw good money behind bad.” The reasoning is simple — the Progressive Liberal Party is governing competently, holding key constituencies, and benefiting from a fragmented opposition that seems unsure of its own direction. In short, the FNM views this contest as an uphill battle and is already looking beyond it.

This conclusion is not based on rumour alone. It is evident in behavior.

The party is plagued by internal dysfunction, competing power centers, and a striking lack of strategic coherence. Instead of a unified national campaign, the public is witnessing a party juggling internal disputes, personal loyalties, and regional interests. There are simply too many fires to put out — and no visible plan to extinguish them.

At the heart of this dysfunction is a leadership culture that prioritizes personalities over party cohesion. There is a widespread perception that former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham would readily sacrifice party unity if it meant securing the political future of Duane Sands. Whether fair or not, this perception reinforces the belief that loyalty to individuals outweighs loyalty to the institution.

Meanwhile, Party Leader Michael Pintard appears heavily focused on appeasing interests aligned with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, often at the expense of a broader national strategy. Grand Bahama has become less a battleground and more an obsession, distorting candidate selection and leaving other constituencies feeling neglected.

Nowhere is this failure clearer than in Bain and Grants Town.

The selection of Jay Philippe as the FNM candidate has raised serious questions. Philippe is largely unknown, imported from Freeport, and placed in one of the country’s strongest PLP seats. He faces Wayde Watson, a seasoned political operator who previously defeated Travis Robinson, then a sitting Parliamentary Secretary, by a wide margin.

The unavoidable question is whether Philippe is a sacrificial lamb.

If so, he is not alone. Similar patterns are emerging across multiple constituencies: weak or mismatched candidates, little evidence of careful vetting, and no visible long-term investment. This does not look like strategic experimentation. It looks like abandonment.

Leadership tensions only add to the uncertainty. The electorate is watching closely to see how Pintard handles Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright, and what political manoeuvring unfolds in Long Island. These are distractions no serious campaign can afford.

Compounding the problem are lingering legal and repetitional shadows. Adrian Gibson remains on trial with no clear end in sight, while Pintard continues to struggle to distance his leadership from persistent public narratives surrounding allegations of a “murder for hire.” Proven or not, such issues dominate headlines and drain credibility.

Taken together, the picture is unmistakable.

This does not look like a party fighting to win. It looks like a party managing decline, conserving resources, and quietly positioning itself for a future contest — perhaps in 2032.

Political parties rarely announce surrender. They signal it instead — through poor candidate choices, internal chaos, and a lack of conviction. By those measures, the FNM has already conceded.

And a party that does not believe in its own candidates has already lost — long before a single vote is cast.