Growth, scandal key issues in Bahamas election

NASSAU, Apr 29 (Reuters) The Bahamas heads into a general election on Wednesday amid sporadic violence and allegations of vote-buying in a campaign focused on economic growth and political scandal.

Prime Minister Perry Christie says his Progressive Liberal Party will win at least 28 of the 41 seats in the House of Assembly; Free National Movement leader Hubert Ingraham believes a ''tsunami'' of support will sweep him back to power.

There is no nationwide pre-election polling in the Bahamas but observers have been predicting a close race.

The leader of the party with a majority becomes prime minister of the Atlantic nation of 320,000 people and 700 islands, which have grown rich through offshore banking and tourism.

Ingraham was prime minister from 1992 until 2002, when Christie's PLP -- seen by many elderly voters as the party of the black majority -- unexpectedly won by a landslide.

Ingraham says scandals, such as the resignation of the immigration minister over claims he fast-tracked the residency application of late Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith, and five years of non-achievement have brought disillusionment.

''They have broken faith with you, the people, through their incompetence, scandals and secrecy,'' Ingraham said in the campaign manifesto of the FNM, a party associated with the predominantly white ''Bay Street Boys'' who dominated public life prior to independence from Britain.

But Christie maintains that his party has presided over economic growth, with up to 20 billion dollar pledged in foreign investment for major resort projects in the less populated ''Family Islands.'' Tourism is the economic engine for the Bahamas and Christie accused his predecessor of neglecting the distant islands.

''They inflicted economic pain on you. They made you suffer.

They denied you jobs,'' Christie said at a rally in one of the Family Islands, Eleuthera. ''You can never go back to that.'' VIOLENT INCIDENTS Bahamian elections are normally peaceful but the campaign has been marred by an arson attack on an FNM campaign base and a bullet fired through the window of an empty PLP office.

In another incident, an FNM campaigner is alleged to have used a small flame-thrower to injure a PLP supporter when two motorcades crossed paths.

Christie and Ingraham have called for calm but verbal clashes continue.

The FNM alleged voters on one island were offered 200 dollars to 400 dollars to support a PLP candidate and that the ruling party offered government jobs to 100 people for their support in New Providence, the island with the capital Nassau.

The PLP denied the accusations. Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe admitted ''helping poor people'' but denied paying for votes in his contested constituency.

Several scandals have rocked the government, including allegations former pinup model Smith received special treatment. The billionaire's widow had lived in the Bahamas until her death through an accidental drug overdose in Florida in February.

Immigration Minister Shane Gibson denied impropriety but resigned in February after The Tribune newspaper published pictures of him embracing Smith on her bed.

Two PLP parliamentarians also quit government posts in October after getting into a fist fight. Both are attorneys and said they were arguing over a private legal matter.

Christie was a protege of the late Sir Lynden Pindling, the first black prime minister of the Bahamas who led the former colony to independence in 1973, but his health has been in question since a 2005 stroke.

Ingraham, who quit as FNM leader after serving two terms as prime minister, returned last year. He is widely credited with reviving the Bahamas' fortunes after Pindling's 25-year reign.

REUTERS JS BST2040