Secretaries General analyze election
They are among the busiest and most harassed workers in an occupation which considers a sixteen-hour workday normal. Today News Five’s Patrick Jones managed to grab some time from two men, who although not running for office, remain at the center of the political storm: U.D.P. Secretary General Kenworth Tillett and his P.U.P. counterpart Godfrey Smith.
Despite the re-drawing of boundaries for some divisions and the nationwide exercise in re-registration, both political parties agree that while numbers are important, decision ’98 for the electors in the August twenty seventh poll boils down to how well the campaign is run.
Kenworth Tillett, Secretary General, U.D.P.
“Yes, who can get their machinery going and who can basically convince the electorate. One of the things that is different about this election is that I think that both political parties are starting to understand that there is a bigger set of undeciders out there; there is a bigger percentage, and we expect that that is going to play a role in this election. And this is across the country not only in Belize City or any particular zone or division across the country.”
Godfrey Smith, Secretary General, P.U.P.
“I think the fact that a division has been reduced does not really say much about the chances of a candidate’s victory in that division. What one has to look at first and foremost is the re-registration exercise, who brought these people out to be registered and rally the mood of the people and really the issues affecting that division.”
In Belize City, the re-drawing of the boundaries has affected three crucial divisions: Pickstock, Fort George and Caribbean Shores. While re-registration has increased the population of the Albert Division, the P.U.P. believes that they are about to make major in roads in a predominantly U.D.P. stronghold. But it’s a division that the U.D.P. is not ready to give up without a fight.
Godfrey Smith
“The candidate himself Mark Espat has been hard at work in that division. If you’d have a look at the newspapers that come out each week, you’ll see he has been working with pre-schools, with schools, day-care centers; he has been doing a tremendous amount of work in that division. I think his candidate quite frankly, is very, very weak: Thomas Morrison. And quite frankly I have heard from people inside the United Democratic Party that they have conceded that seat in fact.”
Kenworth Tillett
“Albert has voted consistently, very consistently for the U.D.P.”
Q: “Do you think that will continue?”
Kenworth Tillett
“Yes, I think that will continue. The whole perception of P.U.P. candidates having a field day, that there has been a turn around is not legitimate at all. In fact we see the movement in terms of the status starting to move and remember also Mr. Espat has been working in that division for about two years or two and a half years. Our candidate is new and therefore has not had the exposure that Mr. Espat has had, so that perception could be very wrong. When you start discounting the fact that that is a legitimate U.D.P. division and you take it for granted that Mr. Espat is walking away with it, I think any political analyst that does that is making a mistake.”
With regards to re-registration, the two parties see different benefits from the exercise. The P.U.P., though they worked hard to have their people re-registered, maintains it was a waste of time and uses the numbers to support their theory. While the U.D.P. believes that for the first time in a long while, the Belizean people will have true representation in government, thanks to re-registration.
Godfrey Smith
“Five years ago the total number of voters was 98,371 so there are some seven thousand short. And if you consider that in the space of five years, more people would have turned eighteen and been eligible to vote, then this figure should have been much, much more. Hence we feel vindicated in our initial view that a lot of people have been disenfranchised.
I would have lauded this thing as a success, if they had gone, at least beyond, the figures of nine years ago of 98,000. That has been a total waste of time, because voters in Belize City especially are very, very fluid. They register in one place today and by tomorrow, one week down the road they have already moved somewhere else and that has been the case throughout. Many of these people are moving around constantly, renting in different divisions and so on. There is no way one earth, certainly in Belize that you can attempt to lock in voters in specific places. It’s just too fluid. So I think that has been a complete waste of time.”
Kenworth Tillett
“What it does show is that a lot of… You would have to do the research to show how many people are actually first time voters in this country. The fact that you say there is only 7,000 short as opposed to the last registration list, there’s been a shift in terms of the people moving from one division to the other and when people were voting in the division where they were not living, you were getting improper representation. There was manipulation in terms of the stocking of voters. There was something when people could register in a particular division and remain there irregardless of where they live. In the entire world in fact, the fact is that you got registered and nobody could move you, simply does not make for adequate or proper representation.”
Both parties have identified the undecided voters as crucial to their chances of winning the elections. Their job now is to convince that population to support them, while at the same time ensuring that their known supporters make it to the polls. Patrick Jones for News Five.
Both Secretaries General have dismissed the presence of third and fourth parties and independent candidates as non entities in the elections and say that their impact on the race will be negligible.
