Michael Pintard

Michael Clifton Pintard (born 3 July 1964) is a Bahamian politician serving as Leader of the Free National Movement and leader of the opposition since 27 November 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marco City, Grand Bahama since 2017. First appointed in 2010, he served two terms in the Senate. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources from 2018 to 2021.

Early life
Pintard was born in Nassau to Sister Laura Benson (née Hepburn) and John S. Pintard. He attended AF Adderley Senior High School and pursued an Associate degree in Agriculture at the College of the Bahamas. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy from Tuskegee University in 1988 and later complete post-graduate courses in Agricultural Economics at McGill University in 2002. He also took a summer programme in Writing with the University of Miami and holds a certificate in compliance and anti-money laundering.

Career
Before going into politics, Pintard worked in consultancy with Scribes Ltd., radio broadcasting and art and theatre management, and urban planning. He helped to found Congo Town Development Ltd.

Pintard was sworn in as a Senator by then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on 7 April 2010. He was appointed again for a second term in 2014, when the FNM was in opposition. He ran for the Cat Island, Rum Cay & San Salvador parliamentary constituency in the 2012 Bahamian general election. He tried again in 2017, this time for Marco City, Grand Bahama and won. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources by Hubert Minnis in July 2018. He was in office to oversee and report to the news about Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

Though the Free National Movement was defeated in the 2021 General Election, Pintard was one of seven FNM MP's to win their seats, having been re-elected in Marco City with 57% of the vote cast. He was elected as the sixth leader of the party during a one-day convention held on 27 November, 2021, defeating fellow Grand Bahama MPs and former Cabinet ministers in the Minnis administration Kwasi Thompson and Iram Lewis by a decisive 2:1 margin. Pintard was appointed leader of the opposition on 29 November 2021.

As Leader of the Opposition, Pintard and his wife, Berlice, attended the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, as part of the official Bahamian delegation led by Prime Minister Philip Davis.