The race is on to secure the spot of Chairman for The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and Keith Darent Albury is vying for that position.

A stalward councilor for the party since 2011, Mr. Albury told The Journal   that “the results of the last general election have inspired me to give more considered thought to my place in the Progressive Liberal Party, because the results of the aftermath of the general election indicated an absence of the spirit of God in the party, as it was before.

“We have also been exposed to public ridicule and odium and members of our electoral team were subjected to police scrutiny in the most public manner.” Mr. Albury added.

Expanding on his campaign platform, Mr. Albury aspires to restore the spiritual relationship between the party and rebuild in the minds of the populace confidence that the PLP is the best party capable of running the affairs of the Bahamas.

To bring his aspirations to fruition, Mr. Albury said, “We need to gain the trust in the people that we are in fact out for their best interest and not for our own selfish reasons.

“To do that, we’re going to have to go to our constituency branches and reaffirm to the people that we are with them,” he said.

Keeping a tight lip on what he thinks can be done to achieve this, Mr. Albury said, “there are methods which this can be done, but I am not going to expose that to the public until I do so first to the voting delegates of the Progressive Liberal Party.”

Mr. Albury told The Journal that the former administration is at its lowest point and he feels the party is in need of fresh ideas. Above all, a new way of thinking and a more energetic thrust is desperately necessary.

In agreement with the party’s leadership, Mr. Albury is in pursuance of the Amendment of Article 1.3 of the party’s constitution, thereby giving branches more autonomy.

He explained, “there is in our constitution impediments to creative energy of the people in our branches. I’m going to seek, in collaboration with our leadership, to amend our constitution to permit our constituency branches more autonomy.

“One example is the constituents may have the ability to select their own candidates as opposed to having a candidate imposed upon them; that is a most important principle.

“Another example: re-energize the party’s political research and development capabilities”.

He decided not to offer any additional details on this until further into his campaign.

When asked what condition he thinks the party is in now, Mr. Albury responded, “from a public relations perspective, we’re in terrible position, from a structural perspective, we’re alright.

“We are emotionally subdued; anyone who took that sort of political beating as we did, would be in that condition.”

However, Mr. Albury is very optimistic and confident about his party, stating, “We are a strong and vibrant party, we’ve always been.”

Other candidates vying for Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party are, former cabinet ministers Obie Wilchcombe, Damien Gomez and Fred Mitchell.