Eric Chang gets most votes for Belize City
The highest number of votes in the Belize City polling went to political newcomer Eric Chang, who showed nine thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight votes, almost seven hundred more than the Mayor. Chang was followed closely another newcomer, Roger Espejo, who received nine thousand three hundred and seventy-four votes. Laura Esquivel, who had the highest votes for her party in the previous two elections, fell to third with nine thousand three hundred and forty-nine votes. Phillip Willoughby was next with nine thousand two hundred and fifty-three votes. He was followed by Leila Peyrefitte, Wayne Usher, Dean Samuels, Andrew Faber, and Kevin Singh. While Moya already has her plan for the next three years, she says it did not come as a surprise that Eric Chang topped the polls.
Zenaida Moya
“It’s a novelty. He is the first Asian Belizean to even be contesting at this level and I said, you know what, people will ensure they vote for Eric. He stands out, and even when we were campaigning people were like, “Oh you dah di lee Chiney bwai”, especially older folks. I’m happy for him.”
“We’ll have to look at the whole system of doing things, clearly to improve on how we accomplish what we set out to do as it pertains to the sanitation and the streets and drains issue. What I’m looking at and we’ll sit down together is I want to go forth in a manner whereby you have a councilor responsible for works on the north side and a councilor responsible for works on the south side. And when I say Works I mean streets and drains because those are top priorities. Also sanitation; sanitation is just not about the picking up of garbage, it’s much more than that. Even in terms of the whole civic pride campaign, and ensuring more proper public health.”
The U.D.P. victory parade and swearing in are tentatively planned for Wednesday. On the blue side, mayoral hopeful Dr. Cecil “Chubby” Reneau, received the highest for his slate; six thousand and fifty-one votes. A mere thirty votes behind was Keith Acosta. The other candidates never did break in the six thousand series. When we look at the constituencies, the P.U.P. slate was badly beaten in all areas except in Fort George, Albert, and Freetown, which are the party’s strongholds.
