UDP takes Benque seat by 140 votes

Today, the United Democratic Party claimed nation-wide bragging rights after their candidate was successful in the Benque Viejo town council by-election. Official results from the Elections and Boundaries Commission show that Said Badi Guerra won by a margin of one hundred and forty votes over PUP hopeful Leandra Chulin. Voter turnout was high with more than seventy percent of the registered electorate casting ballots. Back in Belize City, chairman of the UDP, Doug Singh told News 5 today that they were not about to let go of that seat.

Doug Singh, Chairman, UDP

“I think anybody who was in Benque Viejo or had visited Benque Viejo in the last couple of weeks saw that it was a full fledged party effort on the part of both parties. More so on the part of the government, the People’s United Party. I think we responded because of their reaction. I don’t think we felt that it warranted that kind of attention until we felt that our efforts had to be beefed up. So it was really party against party at the end of the day, and that makes it an overwhelming victory, forget the fact that it’s an obscure seat.”

But amidst the celebrations, the UDP are also voicing complaints against the returning officer who supervised the election.

Doug Singh

“The reconciliation started at 6:30 and wasn’t completed until 9:30. And the way it was done, didn’t give any clue, and of course that’s the prerogative of the returning officer. But we had gone on record of protesting, with our representatives on the Elections and Boundaries Commision, of protesting against the appointment of that particular returning officer because of problems we had experienced in prior elections. And we were ignored of course and Mr. Horace Grant continues to be the returning officer, was re-appointed to that position, and his administration of the election yesterday was really disappointing and I think was awful. I think Mrs. Palacio and her party have always had a really amiable relationship, and I think we’d like to keep it that way, but I think she must really heed our concerns and re-evaluate the circumstances that occurred yesterday and really look in context of improving the administration of these elections. Because for 2000 votes at a by-election, it really should not have taken six to six and a half hours for the results.”

News 5’s attempts to contact returning officer Horace Grant and Chief Elections Officer Myrtle Palacio for comment were unsuccessful.