By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@ribunemedia.net

DAYS after the Free National Movement’s newly ratified candidate, Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis, said she hoped to gain support from former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, the incumbent declared he will vote for himself in the upcoming election.

“I live in the west, so obviously I’ll vote for myself,” Dr Minnis told The Tribune yesterday. “I’m running, who you think I’ll vote for? And leave it as that.”

Senator Barnett-Ellis was confirmed last week as the party’s candidate for Killarney, a constituency long held by the FNM. Party officials announced in April that Dr Minnis would not be renominated.

Despite this, Dr Minnis has reiterated his intention to run in Killarney. He has expressed confidence in being re-elected even if the constituency is split due to its large voter population.

The Constituencies Commission is preparing to recommend adjustments to electoral boundaries ahead of the next general election. Killarney is widely expected to be divided because of its high voter numbers.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis recently acknowledged that voter counts are out of balance in “one or two” New Providence constituencies and said the issue requires “an anxious look” to determine whether boundaries should be redrawn.

Dr Minnis said he believes Killarney will inevitably be split in two.

On the night Senator Barnett-Ellis was ratified as the FNM’s Killarney candidate, she told reporters she looked forward to Dr Minnis’ support. She said they had brief conversations but had not spoken since her ratification.