By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

IN WHAT could be described as a "state of the party" address, former Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Tommy Turnquest on Thursday night urged party supporters to give "at least one dollar" to either their respective constituency candidate or the party's national office to help fund its electoral campaign, claiming that the party could not match "PLP money".

Stopping short of details on how much the FNM has spent in the build-up to next month's general elections, the former Mount Moriah MP said the party could not match the vast amount being poured into campaigning by the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) even if it wanted to.

"We can't match the PLP money. We are not trying to match the PLP money," Mr Turnquest said frankly, leading the massive crowd gathered at the R M Bailey park to bicker among themselves.

"But if every one of the thousands of people out here tonight could give at least one dollar to either your candidate or to the party ... you want to win, help the party win."

On Tuesday, both PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts and FNM Chairman Sidney Collie remained vague on how their parties were spending and raising money this election cycle.

Mr Roberts, for his part, said his party was expected to spend “millions”. This figure, he added, would cover political items, media content, rallies and other “necessary line items".

Mr Collie was more tight-lipped when asked about his party's campaign spending, leaning on the lack of campaign finance laws as the reason he did not have to present details.

“There is no such law to prohibit what we do, how we do it and or why we do; so we will continue on doing what we deem necessary to place us in the best position,” Mr Collie said in response to questions from The Tribune.

With this as the backdrop for his comments on Thursday, Mr Turnquest said he was doing all he could do to help the party, going as far as to ask his children fund the party as best they could.

"I am doing all that I can, calling everybody I know. I made my children give to the party, they all working. You have children who working, make them give too," he stated.

Mr Turnquest, who unsuccessfully led the FNM into the 2002 general election, also used his allotted time to warn undecided voters across the county not to be swayed by both the PLP and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) in the weeks leading up to May 10.

Of the DNA, a party started by Mr Turnquest's former Cabinet colleague Branville McCartney in 2011, he said the FNM underestimated it ahead of the 2012 election, a move he insisted "was a major reason for our defeat in 2012".

Mr Turnquest the FNM crowd that it could not allow the DNA to again "take our voters from us".

He furthered: "Don't be swayed by the DNA. We tried to unify the opposition forces, and I know that because I was a part of it. I been to plenty meetings. But now, it is the people's time. It is time to vote now. Don't allow them to take our voters," he added.

"If you lost someone who use to be an FNM, go find them and bring them back to the FNM. Tell them you are sorry. I saw plenty of people in Mount Moriah today who put that thing on me last time, with Marvin Dames this time.

"And that is what we have to do in every single constituency. This time I want you to remember that a vote for the DNA is a vote for the PLP. As our leader told you, if you go to bed with the DNA, you are going to wake up with Perry Christie and the PLP."

Additionally, Mr Turnquest said the FNM, a party which has endured severe infighting over the last two years, was now "unified", "one family" and now "all together".

Mr Turnquest, a second generation FNM, added that voters should view the FNM as the best choice, asserting that the party had dedicated itself to being all about "fairness, transparency and openness for all".

"The FNM has assembled a team of candidates who will be able to govern this country effectively on day one," he said. "I am satisfied as I am sure the Bahamian will find and do on May 10 that the FNM has the best team," Mr Turnquest stated.