McCartney and DNA makes political history

Yasmin Popescu

yasmin@nasguard.com

Branville McCartney and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) made Bahamian history on Tuesday, April 17th, becoming the first third political party in the history of The Bahamas to offer a full slate of candidates for every constituency in The Bahamas.

Up to nomination day, McCartney and his team had advertised a full slate of candidates, but before April 17, that was all talk. No candidate is seriously considered to run in a general election until after they have been officially nominated.

While some may have thought that McCartney and the DNA may have backed out on at least a few of those contested seats, on Nomination Day, he proved them all wrong.

This historic moment may have been over-shadowed by all the hype and emotionalism of the two major parties of the FNM and the PLP, but when the dust is settled, and the history of this country is updated, Branville McCartney and the DNA will stand strong as the first third political party to contest all of the seats in their first general elections.

It was not an easy feat to pull off.

In a 40-year old political system that has mainly been a battle of two political power houses, and where all attempts at third party formations were crushed in between, the DNA has made an outstanding showing, even before the elections get underway.

But then again, that seems to be the way of McCartney and the DNA. They have showed that they are not followers, creating cutting edge political ads; holding summits and street meetings in the midst of parties holding rallies and presenting their message in a more subdued, professional manner all indicate that the DNA does not plan to go the way of its predecessors.

In fact, the DNA's slogan is that of 'change' and McCartney has stuck to that goal.

How well this position holds up in the future remains to be seen.

Some believe that there has been some hiccups and some questions with some of the candidates which the DNA had chosen originally, the fact remains that they stuck to their guns and shoed up in full force on Nomination Day.

While the DNA still has an uphill battle ahead of them, the fact that they were able to nominate a full slate of candidates in their first general election, says a lot about the potential McCartney has in the future of politics.

"You see what we have done in just 11 months, imagine what we can do for this country in five years," McCartney said following his nomination for the Bamboo Town Constituency on Tuesday morning

McCartney knows that his major battle is not necessarily how much candidates he can field for an election or how much money he can raise, but his major battle will be that of trying to change the mindset of a people who live their lives steep in tradition.

The everyday Bahamian psyche is an enigma.

Just how realistic McCartney is about winning the government their first time out as a third party, leaves room for discussion, but apparently he believes in what he's selling.

The big question surrounding the DNA is will they go the way of all other third parties in the past or will they hold on and fight for the change they are asking the Bahamian people to believe in?

When you consider the fact that Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield never lived long enough to see the party he started win the government, he held onto the dream that the Free National Movement had what it took to win the hearts of Bahamians and win the government.

Now, it is McCartney's turn to get the Bahamian public to accept the DNA and win their hearts enough to bring about a change.

© 2012 The Freeport News