Free National Movement

The Free National Movement (abbreviated FNM) is a political party in The Bahamas formed in the early 1970s, led by Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield. The current leader of the party is Michael Pintard and the current deputy leader is Shanendon Cartwright. It dominated the general election held on 10 May 2017, winning 35 of the 39 seats in the Legislature, but was defeated in 2021, losing 28 seats. History The FNM was established at Jimmy Shepherd's house on Spring Hills Farms in Fox Hill in 1971. The Free-PLP were a breakaway group of eight MPs from the then governing Progressive Liberal Party. This group, which was known as the "Dissident Eight", included Arthur Foulkes, Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Warren J. Levarity, Maurice E. Moore, Curtis McMillan, James (Jimmy) Shepherd, Elwood Donaldson, and George Thompson. Following meetings held at Spring Hill Farms, the FNM officially became a political party in October 1971, with Wallace- Whitfield as its leader. The other group, the UBP, was one of the main political parties in the Bahamas and had governed the country since the advent of party politics in 1958, until it lost the 1967 general election by a paper thin margin to the Opposition PLP.