MICAL

PLP: Alfred Gray
FNM: Dion Foulks

First of all, can I say how much I hate the name of this constituency? Would it have been too much to call it Inagua, Mayaguana and the Windwards? And what makes Long Cay, an island with a bare handful of voters worthy of contributing a letter to the goofy acronym of a name, anyway?

Until ’97, this was two seats. The PLP first won Inagua in 1972 while the FNM held Crooked and Acklins. When ’77 rolled around, the PLP’s Wilbert Moss managed to win in Crooked and Acklins as well. However, in 1982 while Moss held his seat, the FNM’s Vernon Symonette picked up Inagua and held it until he retired in 02’. Mr. Moss won his seat two more times, but in 1990 was forced to resign when he was convicted of attempting to bribe a judge. In the bye-election, the FNM offered up their ’87 candidate (and former MP) Basil Kelly against the PLP’s Franklyn Walkine. No one seriously consider the governing party would lose in a bye-election and Mr. Walkine won by a large margin. Shortly after this, the FNM’s proposed candidate for the ’92 election literally vanished into the Bermuda Triangle along with several of his generals. It was assumed that their plane went down, but no trace was ever found. After this tragedy, the FNM did not put up a candidate for the seat, lining up behind Loftus Roker, a former PLP MP from Nichols Town who had quit the party and was running independent. Mr. Roker came close, but Walkine managed to hold onto his seat.

In 1997, the two seats became one and Mr. Symonette carried it for the FNM with a respectable margin but in 2002 the PLP’s Alfred Gray won it by a handful of votes over the FNM’s Johnley Ferguson.

This election sees Mr. Gray taking on Mr. Foulks, a former two-term FNM MP for Blue Hills in the suburbs of Nassau and the son of Arthur Foulks, one of the founding members of the FNM. Mr. Gray probably has a bit of an advantage in Crooked, Acklins and Mayaguana, but the big question is Inagua. Mathew Town has tended to be marginally FNM and there is a serious problem labor problem right now with Morton Salt. Morton is the lifeblood of Inagua as there is no tourist industry to speak of and so any problem there is likely to be very unsettling to the people. Will the PLP, as the incumbent party, get blamed for not solving the problem? Or will they be able to pull out an agreement in time for the election? Foulks is known to be a good campaigner but Gray is no slouch, either. Every vote is going to count in this one.

Rating: TOSS UP