PUP wins 7 town councils; UDP 1
National issues such as the Guatemala crisis may have eclipsed in the latter days of the campaign, but the electors in seven towns and the capital city were not to be deterred from doing their civic duty with a record turnout. And they voted overwhelmingly PUP, with 7 out of 8 municipalities going blue. Even though most polling stations reported slow traffic in the morning, the trickle was constant and by the time polls closed at 6:00pm, almost 72% of those registered to vote had cast ballots, topping the 1997 town council balloting when 66% of eligible voters turned out. Nationally, Benque Viejo posted the highest rates with 80% while Dangriga was the lowest with 64% going to the polls. In Corozal, Mario Narvaez was elected mayor and will sit with the rest of his PUP candidates in town hall. That district already has 4 representatives in the house. Orange Walkquenos stuck to “who” they knew and kept Renaldo “Rick” Burgos as mayor. His town council team will also be the PUP candidates. San Pedro also decided to stay with tradition and reelected incumbent mayor Alberto “Beto” Nunez and his PUP councilors. The people of San Ignacio and Santa Elena were still waiting on the numbers this morning but when the final tally was in, by a small margin, first timer Orlando “Landy” Habet had been selected to run things for the next three years supported by the rest of the PUP slate. But in Benque Viejo del Carmen, the dominant color was red, not blue however UDP Gerardo Sosa lead a spilt council, five UDP’s and two PUP’s. This was the only split council in the country. The race for Dangriga was closely watched by both parties but PUP’s Cassian Nunez prevailed and will work with his PUP council. Punta Gorda picked Westby, Anthony Westby that is, to take care of business down south. He will be backed up by the rest of the PUP slate. In Belmopan City, voter turnout was significantly higher than the referendum held in November with 69% voting for their mayor and councilors. Information from the counting station shows that many of the votes were spilt among the two parties as well as a number of independents. The mayor of Belmopan is the PUP’s Anthony Chanona, a newcomer in the political arena. Figures for voter turnout show that 69% of eligible electors voted in Corozal, 75% in Orange Walk, 75% in San Pedro, 71% in San Ignacio, 80% in Benque Viejo, 64% in Dangriga, and 70% in Punta Gorda. Overall, 72% of the eligible voters decided to cast ballots yesterday, not a bad turnout by any standard. In the end, 51 seats and 7 councils belong to the People’s United Party while 5 seats and 1 split council are in the hands of the United Democratic Party. In terms of total votes, the PUP garnered 54.6%, to 44.3% for the UDP and a slim 1% for independent candidates. The full results can be viewed at the Elections and Boundaries website, located at www.belize-elections.org
