Free National Movement

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Bahamas
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The Free National Movement is a conservative political party in the Bahamas. It is currently the main opposition party, winning seven of 40 seats in the Bahamas House of Assembly, with 41.1 percent of the vote at the last general election in 2002 when it was led by Tommy Turnquest. Since its 2005 Convention the party has been led by former Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham who was re-elected Leader after standing down prior to the 2002 election.

The party was formed in 1971 by a union of the Free-PLP and the UBP. The Free-PLP were a breakaway group of eight MPs from the then governing Progressive Liberal Party. This group, know as the Dissident Eight and led by the popular Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, were on the center-right of the PLP and unhappy with what they saw as creeping dictatorial tendencies within the PLP Government. The other group, the United Bahamian Party, was one of the main political parties in the Bahamas and had governed the country since the advent of party politics in 1958 until it lost the 1967 general election by a paper thin margin to the opposition PLP. The party's leadership was almost all white in a country where blacks made up 85% of the population. 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 socially liberal and economically conservative line. The new party was called the Free National Movement. The party grew quickly and built a strong and loyal base. However, these were heady days for the governing PLP, who lead 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.

In 1990 the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham took over the leadership of the party after the death of Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. Mr. Ingraham proved a dynamic leader. The FNM attacked the governing PLP on corruption charges and published a Manifesto.

In the General Election of 1992, the FNM defeated its rival, the Progressive Liberal Party, by a wide margin, taking 32 of the 49 seats. The FNM Government privatized the Government owned hotels, which had fallen into decline since nationalization, private radio stations were allowed to operate, ending government's 1 Government station, they introduced local government, encouraged inward investment to grow the economy The elections of 1997 saw the FNM re-elected with a staggering 35 of the 40 seats in a reduced House.

However, they once again lost the 2002 elections. Many believe that this loss came as a result of alleged corruption and arrogance. ^{[citation needed]}