By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Coalition of Independents (COI) ratified five new candidates for the next general election on Saturday, including former Free National Movement (FNM) member Iram Lewis, bringing the party closer to completing its full slate of candidates.

The new candidates are mostly political newcomers: Natasha Mitchell for North Eleuthera, Christan Heastie for South Eleuthera, Karon Farrington for South Beach and Carlton Cleare for South Andros and Mangrove Cay.

Mr Lewis, meanwhile, will once again contest the Central Grand Bahama seat. He told supporters his decision to join the COI was not made lightly, but came from a conviction that the country deserves better.

“We are not a collection of fragmented voices. We are an organised caucus and determined organisation,” Mr Lewis said.

This latest group brings the COI’s total number of ratified candidates to 33.

Their ratification came after the COI officially launched its national headquarters on Chippingham Road, off West Bay Street.

The event drew more than a hundred supporters, many of whom had to be seated under tents outside due to limited space in the building.

In his speech, COI leader Lincoln Bain credited the team for renovating the headquarters building in under three weeks. He said the project demonstrated the COI’s ability to deliver results quickly and efficiently.

“If we can take some dollar drive money and do this, give us one term. Only one and you will never want the PLP and FNM again,” Mr Bain told a crowd of COI supporters.

His speech was filled with election pledges, including a promise to grant one acre of Crown land to every Bahamian, the development of a Sovereign Wealth Fund for citizens, and tackling the country’s immigration crisis.

“We’ve had enough. We’re taking our country back,” he repeated.

Turning to the FNM, Mr Bain blasted the party’s first slate of ratified candidates, claiming they were the same “old” faces from the Minnis administration and unfit to lead the country.

As for the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), he warned that re-electing them would only lead to “more crime, corruption, and everything else.”

The COI failed to secure a seat in the last general election but secured nearly 8,000 votes. COI contested 32 of the 39 seats and secured 7,852 votes, 6.2 percent of the total voter turnout.