By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MARCO City MP Greg Moss announced last night that he will not be seeking a renomination in the upcoming general elections, and has resigned as leader of the United Democratic Party.

Mr Moss explained that he was suspending his involvement in a bid to “more fully commit” himself to his family, business and professional obligations.

In a statement he maintained his confidence in the continued leadership of the UDP by Bahamas Public Services Union president John Pinder, C Allen Johnson and its executive committee, and wished them well with future efforts to advance the interests of the party and the Bahamian people.

Mr Moss was ratified by the party in January, along with Mr Pinder, Bishop Margo Burrows and attorney Edmund Russell. At that time, the party announced its name change from United People’s Movement (UPM) to the UDP.

Mr Moss explained that the former name was the result of a late-2016 merger of his first incarnation of the UDP, which he launched on his own after resigning from the Progressive Liberal Party in 2015, and Mr Pinder’s and former Senator John Bostwick Jr’s The People’s Movement, which was conceived out of an intense opposition to the June 7 gender equality referendum.

Mr Moss explained that the reason for the name change was not due to a division in the party, but rather because “two or three persons”, after having left the UPM, “sought to create a level of confusion that we just were not willing to accommodate or be a part of”.

Mr Moss said that after they left the party, those persons registered a new political organisation under the name The People’s Movement, the name of Mr Pinder’s former organisation prior to the merger with Mr Moss’ group. Mr Moss said such a move would have only led to unnecessary confusion.