Ruling Party Claims Victory in Bahamas

The ruling Progressive Liberal Party claimed victory Friday night in parliamentary elections, returning Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling to office despite allegations of corruption.

Unofficial results announced by the Parliamentary Registrar’s Office, broadcast over a government-owned radio station, reported that Pindling’s party had won at least 25 seats in the 49-member House of Assembly.

The agency said incomplete returns gave the Free National Movement nine seats and the Independents one seat. One PLP member ran unopposed and votes for 13 seats still were being tabulated late Friday night.

Official results were to be announced today.

Deputy Prime Minister Clement T. Maynard told a news conference that his party’s tabulations showed the PLP won 30 of the 49 seats.

The PLP went into the election with 32 seats, compared to 11 seats for the FNM before redistricting added six parliamentary seats for this year’s vote.

Reports of some missing ballots and voting delays marred Friday’s elections that posed Pindling’s toughest test in 20 years in office.

The opposition Free National Movement, led by Kendal G.L. Isaacs, accused the Pindling administration of being involved in drug trafficking.

American officials trying to halt the flow of drugs into the United States, especially through Florida, have accused the Bahamas of dragging its feet in fighting drug smuggling.

About 99,000 of the Commonwealth island nation’s 250,000 citizens were registered to vote.

U.S. election observers, monitoring the vote at the request of a U.S. Senate subcommittee, reported major problems by midday, but their report was less critical when the balloting ended.

“This process is not finished yet,” said Allen Weinstein, president of the Center for Democracy in Washington. “I don’t think it would be responsible, at this point, to state any categorical judgment.”

Officials of the Progressive Liberal Party and of the Free National Movement acknowledged some problems but dismissed the seriousness.

Sean McWeeney, a PLP senator, said there had been delays in opening polling stations in strongholds of his party as well as those of the opposition.