P.U.P. and U.D.P. prepare for City Council Elections

John Briceño

The next Municipal elections will test the popularity of the ruling party, which controls all municipalities. It is also a precursor to the landscape of the next general elections. In the City, the red council has gone from scandal to scandal and will have a tough time convincing city residents that they deserve their votes one more time. It has been six years since the P.U.P. last assumed office at City Hall and according to party leader John Briceño the selection process for candidates contesting the 2012 elections remains ongoing and should conclude by the end of October when they will be formally introduced to the public.

John Briceño, Party Leader, P.U.P.

“The People’s United Party national executive since June has already set certain deadlines and we have set a deadline by the end of October [for] all the slates, not only Belize City but across this country from Corozal all the way to Punta Gorda will have their entire slates.  Here in Belize City Honorable Francis Fonseca has been tasked to lead the group of people who will be looking out for candidates.  We already have a number of aspirants and there is a process that they need to go through.  They are putting in their applications [and] once the applications are in then they will have to meet with the Order of Distinguished Service for an interview to see if they meet the qualifications for them to be a candidate.  Once we go through that, that’s supposed to be finished within the next few weeks and then after that we’re going to have the convention to be able to elect and present a complete slate for the city.  A slate, that I feel confident, that will be able to challenge the dominance of the U.D.P. in Belize City and to be able to put a group of people that are qualified, a group of people that are honest, a group of people that want to work for this city, a group of people that have the managerial capacity to be able to put Belize City back on the right track.  If you look at the record of this council over the past six years under the U.D.P. anybody would tell you that this has been the worst six years of the city that has been administrated by a U.D.P. city council.”

The U.D.P. was scheduled to hold its convention last Sunday but the event was postponed until August twenty-eighth due to the threat of Tropical Storm Harvey over the weekend.