Is Hubert Ingraham still the FNM’s kingmaker?

Hubert Ingraham is no longer the leader of the Free National Movement and has not been for more than a decade. But when Ingraham tells FNMs what to do, the party listens.

Speaking at the FNM’s 34th anniversary celebration of its 1992 election victory last week, the former prime minister delivered a blunt assessment of his party’s May 12 defeat.

“We lost in 2026, and we lost badly—even losing some deposits. Accept it,” Ingraham said.

Then came the line that immediately shifted the political conversation toward Michael Pintard’s future:

“Your job is to find who could win for you. Whoever that is.”

Ingraham did not explicitly call for Pintard to resign, but the message was difficult to interpret any other way.

The FNM is preparing for a contested leadership convention. Pintard, who led the party into its devastating defeat, has not walked away. Instead, he has made clear that he intends to determine his own future after the party’s post-election process.

His response to Ingraham on Guardian Radio show ‘Z Live’ with host, Zhivargo Laing, was respectful—but unmistakably firm.

“My reverence and respect for our former leader has not changed,” Pintard said. “But I know when to take advice and when I go my own way.”

He also challenged the timing and venue of Ingraham’s intervention.

“I don’t share his view of timing and place for his comments,” Pintard said, adding that he believed the PLP was “on the ropes.”

Was Ingraham trying to save the FNM or inadvertently helping to divide it?

Ingraham argues that the FNM needs a leader capable of winning.

He pointed to former leaders Cecil Wallace-Whitfield and Kendal Isaacs, saying they were “good men” but could not win, and ultimately looked for someone who could.

Ingraham is talking about past history. He led the FNM to its historic 1992 victory over the PLP and returned the party to government again in 2007. His political legacy gives his words an authority that few former party leaders possess.

But authority is not the same thing as control.

The FNM of 2026 is not the FNM of 1992.

Pintard is the current leader. The October convention, not Ingraham, will determine who leads the party.

And Pintard appears determined not to allow the debate to become a referendum dictated from outside the current leadership.

“My head is unbowed,” he said. “I am a soldier for the Bahamian people.”

He also made clear that he intends to continue attacking the government over issues including electricity, food insecurity, rental assistance and alleged abuses of power.

Ingraham’s meddling raises a question: Can the party challenge the PLP effectively while simultaneously fighting over who should lead it?

Ultimately, the future of the FNM will not be decided by its most famous former leader—or by the current leader alone. It will be decided by the delegates who must determine which man or woman they believe can rebuild the party, reconnect with Bahamian voters and, eventually, beat the PLP.

FNMs will decide how it ends.