Bahamas voters return Davis to power in historic win, reject NBA star Rick Fox

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on May 13, 2026

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Voters in The Bahamas have handed Prime Minister Philip Davis and his Progressive Liberal Party a historic second consecutive five-year term in office, while delivering crushing defeats to the country’s national security minister, a former prime minister running as an independent and a one-time NBA champion.

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s general elections showed the Davis’ party securing a 33-8 landslide victory over the main opposition party, the Free National Movement, and ending a nearly 30-year stretch in which governing parties served only a single term. The last incumbent to win re-election was Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in 1997. The Progressive Liberal Party last won back-to-back terms in 1987.

Davis will be sworn in at 11 a.m. Thursday at Government House in New Providence, the prime minister’s office announced.

“The country has spoken,” Davis, 74, said late Tuesday as a crowd of blue-and- yellow-garbed supporters gathered for a victory party at Clifford Park in New Providence. “The Bahamian people have made their choice. Today, the Bahamian people chose progress. Today, the Bahamian people choose to move forward, forward with our plans, forward with our team and forward with my leadership.”

The party’s victory not only cements Davis’s hold on the archipelago, just off the east coast of Florida, it also delivers a stinging rebuke to the opposition party and its leader, Michael Pintard, whose campaign focused on government accountability, the economy and anti-Haitian rhetoric.

Pintard, who retained his Marco City constituency and was among the eight opposition candidates elected to Parliament, conceded defeat late Tuesday. Addressing supporters, he congratulated Davis and the winning party and offered his “best wishes.”

“He has my prayers for the work ahead, and he has the assurance that his majesty’s loyal opposition, the one that he will face in the House of Assembly, will exactly be committed to the Bahamian people and show loyalty to the causes that affect their lives,” he said.

“Today, the Bahamian people made their choice,” Pintard said. “In a democracy that is the only voice that ultimately matters. The people of The Bahamas have spoken, and we accept their decision.”

Third Caribbean leader returning to power

On Wednesday, congratulatory notes poured in from leaders in the 15-member Caribbean Community, CARICOM, of which The Bahamas is a member. Albert Ramdin, the director general of the Organization of American States, also issued congratulations. The OAS was among three groups, including the Commonwealth of Nations and CARICOM, that fielded election observer missions to The Bahamas.

Davis is the third incumbent in the Caribbean, after Mia Mottley in Barbados and Gaston Browne in Antigua and Barbuda, to win at the polls this year in what have been sweeping victories. But despite the wins, it doesn’t mean that voters are completely satisfied. In his speech, Davis acknowledged that while the official tally isn’t yet in, many of the 209,264 registered voters failed to exercise their right to vote.

“In the region and around the world, participation in elections is declining,” he said. “This is not good for the democratic fabric of our society. We must do all that we can to ensure that every Bahamian, in every election, feels that their vote counts.”

Big upsets

The biggest upsets involved Dr. Hubert Minnis, the former opposition leader and prime minister, who lost a bid as an independent to retain the Killarney seat he had held for two decades, and former NBA star Rick Fox, whose high-profile campaign in Garden Hills ended in defeat despite well-funded efforts and celebrity endorsements — including from his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal.

Wayne Munroe, the national security minister, became the only Cabinet member to lose his seat.

The results also underscored the difficulties third parties continue to face in Caribbean politics. The Coalition of Independents failed to win a single seat despite fielding candidates in nearly every constituency.

In another historic development, preliminary results show that nine women will sit in Parliament for the first time in 24 years, with all seven of the winning party’s female candidates reclaiming their seats and two women from the opposition, the Nassau Guardian reported.

On the campaign, Davis promised to use a renewed mandate to expand housing, healthcare and job training in the country, which is grappling with high cost of living, inflation and pressures on its healthcare system.

“I know that you voted today because you love our country. You voted because you believe that together, we can make some of the big changes that will fulfill the ambitions we share for our Bahamas. We all want a country that has more opportunities, a country where safety and prosperity belong to all Bahamians,” he said. “We want a country in which all of you and your children and your grandchildren will thrive... I promise you, with every bone in my body and every beat of my heart, we will do all that we can to deliver for you.”

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