Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Member of Parliament (MP) George Smith has given his predictions of what is to come at the party’s upcoming national convention, its success, he said, relies on the party firstly accepting reality.

“The first time since majority rule the PLP was unable to secure 37 percent of the vote,” he said.

The first pill that needs to be swallowed, he said, is the crushing defeat at the polls some three months ago.

According to the former MP, who represented Exuma, party officials must also accept the need to have an in-depth internal analysis of its top positions.

This he believes starts with the necessary persons accepting that the more than 60-year-old party failed to come out on top during the May 10 elections largely in part to the 54 percent of the 57 percent of Bahamians who voted for the Free National Movement, doing so to get rid of the former government.

“Now the government in that sense is the Cabinet and in any Cabinet there are principle personalities that steer the Cabinet in terms of its decisions. Those principle personalities first of all were accepted as prime minister and those ministers that are deemed to be closest to him,” he said.

“The public of course can speculate on who they were. They were the people who were mostly in the forefront, leading negotiations, making major pronouncements and in some cases were the same personalities that did things that the Bahamian people didn’t associate with.”

As for who will contest those top positions, Mr. Smith also revealed his predictions.

“For the first time in 20 years we will pick a new leader. I expect that leader to be Philip Davis who I think is genuinely underestimated in terms of his commitment and his dedication to the well-being of the Bahamian people,” he said.

“I believe Chester cooper, Raynard Rigby and Alfred Sears will be the principle contestants for the high offices of leader, deputy leader and maybe deputy chairman of the party.”

The PLP’s four-day convention’s slated for October 22 – 25.