Free National Movement

The Free National Movement (abbreviated FNM) is a political party in the Bahamas formed in the early 1970s and led by Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Michael Pintard and the current deputy leader is Shanendon Cartwright.

The Free National Movement first came to power in 1992 after contesting numerous general elections without success. The party swept the 2017 general election, winning 35 of the 39 seats in the Legislature, but was defeated in 2021, losing 28 seats.

History
The party was established at the home of Jimmy Shepherd on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill in 1971. The Free-PLP had been a breakaway group of eight MPs from the governing Progressive Liberal Party. This group, which was known as the "Dissident Eight", included Arthur Foulkes, Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Warren J. Levarity, Maurice E. Moore, Curtis McMillan, James (Jimmy) Shepherd, Elwood Donaldson, and George Thompson. Following meetings held at Spring Hill Farms, the FNM officially became a political party in October 1971, with Wallace-Whitfield as leader.

The United Bahamian Party (UBP) had been one of the main political parties in the Bahamas, governing the country since the advent of party politics in 1958, until it lost the 1967 general election to the opposition PLP. The UBP party's leadership was predominantly white, while blacks made up most of the citizenry. Once out of power, its leaders decided that the party's time was at an end and they looked to the Free-PLP to form a new party that would follow a conservative party line.

The FNM grew in part by uniting independent black voters and the old UBP voter base.

Led by Kendal Isaacs, the party first contested the 1972 general election. However, these were heady days for the governing PLP, who had led the country to independence in 1973, and the FNM failed to gain much more than 40% of the vote in a string of general elections defeats.

1992 General election
In 1990, Hubert Ingraham took over the leadership of the party after the death of Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. The FNM attacked the governing PLP on corruption charges.

In the general election of 1992, the FNM defeated its rival, the PLP, by wide margins, winning 32 of the then 49 seats. The FNM Government privatised the government-owned hotels, which had fallen into decline since nationalisation. Private radio stations were allowed to operate, ending the government's broadcast monopoly. The FNM introduced local government and encouraged inward investment to grow the economy.

1997 General election
The elections of 1997 saw the FNM re-elected in a landslide, with 35 of the 40 seats in a reduced House.

2002 General election
After Ingraham vowed not to seek a third term in office, Tommy Turnquest was elected leader of the party. The party then lost the 2002 elections. Many voters, including FNM supporters, felt that Turnquest was much "weaker" than Perry Christie, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party.

2007 General election
At the FNM's party convention, following the general elections of 2002, Ingraham was returned as leader of the Free National Movement. The FNM went on to regain control of the House of Assembly in the elections of 2007.

2012 General election
The FNM lost government to the Progressive Liberal Party once again in the 2012 Bahamian general elections; it dropped its total share of votes (obtaining only 42.1 percent of the vote, compared to 48.7 percent by the Progressive Liberal Party). The Progressives won 29 of the seats in the legislature and thus the government, compared to the FNM's 9.

Ingraham's retirement and the 2017 General election
Ingraham subsequently resigned, both as party leader as well as the Member of Parliament for North Abaco, and announced his retirement from politics following the defeat. He had served in Parliament for 35 years, winning re-election seven times, including 2012. Ingraham told supporters, "I gave it the best I could and now I've been rejected by the public of the Bahamas... We had no indication from the general public they would go that way."

Following this series of events the FNM went on to lose the by-election triggered by Ingraham's retirement held on 15 October 2012, reducing the total FNM seat count to 8 of the 38 seats in the House of Assembly. The FNM however went on to win the 2017 general election under the leadership of Hubert Minnis, gaining 35 seats out of 39 total.

2021 General election
In September 2021, Prime Minister Minnis called a snap election. The ruling Free National Movement lost to the opposition Progressive Liberal Party, as the twin challenges of COVID-19 and 2019's Hurricane Dorian left the Bahamian economy struggling to recover from its deepest crash since at least 1971.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won 32 of the 39 seats in the House of Assembly. Free National Movement (FNM), led by Minnis, took the remaining seats. On 17 September 2021, the leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Phillip Davis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Bahamas to succeed Hubert Minnis.