By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement’s candidate for Fort Charlotte Mark Humes is confident he can pull off a win in the next general election, saying his campaign has received a “tremendous reception” despite the seat being held by the Progressive Liberal Party PLP for the last three elections.

He also said he would not get sidetracked by mudslinging and political tactics. One of his aims, he said, has always been to change the way politics is usually done.

Mr Humes, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) chairman who unsuccessfully contested the seat for the third party in 2012, was ratified by the FNM in September to battle the PLP’s candidate, Alfred Sears, QC.

Mr Humes, a native of the Chippingham community, is confident of his chances to score an upset over Mr Sears who, in many political circles, is favoured to win the contest.

Mr Sears represented the area from 2002 to 2012, before stepping away from frontline politics. FNM MP Dr Andre Rollins, who ran on the PLP’s ticket in 2012, is the current representative for the area.

“I’m excited about what’s taking place on the ground with us,” Mr Humes said. “I’m excited about the numbers of persons coming on the campaign team and I’m looking forward to a good race. We’ve started walking and showing our presence in the area and we’ve received tremendous reception. Everything is going tremendously well in Fort Charlotte.”

He believes his chances of being elected are greater this time around as “the FNM has a solid base in Fort Charlotte.”

“If you look at the result in the past elections, Fort Charlotte is actually an FNM seat. I don’t want to rest on the fact that I’m from Fort Charlotte that it automatically gives me an advantage but coming from the area, I think people recognise that I have a vested interest in the area’s success. So it’s not like someone’s sending me there to be an MP. I’m from there and want to truly represent that community.

“So I think the FNM base and with the support I was able to garner in the DNA, if we can maintain both of those, I think the chances are excellent.

“I don’t want to come across as overconfident but I think if I continue to do what it is I’m doing on the ground, and continue to let people across the political spectrum to get to know me and meet me, I’m extremely confident that we could succeed.”

Mr Humes, a lecturer in the School of English Studies at the College of the Bahamas, received 519 votes in the area in 2012.

Mr Humes joined the FNM in April. He resigned from his post as DNA chairman in July 2013, saying the decision was personally motivated and in keeping with his principles and what he believes to be “right and true”.

The FNM’s candidate was asked if he was concerned about the potential mudslinging during the campaign trail.

Mr Humes said: “This is politics and when you get into it, you expect that people are going to try and level negativity towards you.

“Once you understand that that’s what it is, you really don’t see it as anything more than politics and you move on. If you get side tracked by it, this would not be the life for you. I’ve watched politics over the years with my grandfather when he entered into politics in the 1970s. And I watched it in not just this country but in the United States as well and it’s just a part of the game.

“It’s what has kept good people out of politics for a long time because most fear that once they get in, there will be the kinds of tactics, but for me, I know that I have to fight through anything anybody throws at me.

“There are some unfortunate things about it and I don’t know if people really understand the magnitude of these actions, I think they just see it as politics, but when you look at it, the actions impact so many different people around you. It’s a serious thing and that’s why I got into politics initially, is to change the way we’ve been doing politics, to change these nasty tactics and get people and politicians to understand that we don’t have to be these things we’ve created over the years.

“I’m here to stay because I think I have a purpose and part of that purpose is to change the way politics has been done over the years,” he concluded.