Former politician has his own national election/poll

Derek Aikman

While the coalition is organizing their private referendum, another social activist is organizing a trip to the poll. Former U.D.P. minister of government, Derek Aikman is joining the ranks of recent pollsters such as the Independent’s Glenn Tillett and Karim Berges along with economist Yasmin Andrews.  Aikman’s poll on the election is by far the most unexpected. His poll is actually a mock election. And Aikman’s national election is taking place on Nomination Day at St. Mary’s Hall in Belize City. In a press conference this afternoon at the University of West Indies School of Continuing Studies, Aikman called it Voters Decision 2012.

Derek Aikman, Organizer of Mock Election

“We sat down with a team from my company and I believe that what we’ve come up with is groundbreaking, it’s certainly unprecedented and I believe something like this is what the electorate needs to help them along and hence this is why we’ve decided to undertake what we are going to do. Now on Friday which is nomination day for the general elections, Aikman and Aikman will be conducting an election on that day. We will be conducting an election in thirty-one constituencies in this country. polls will open at seven o’clock in the morning, polls will close at six o’clock  in the evening and when the results are in—and I will share with you how we are going to do it—you can take the results of this election to the bank. That when the final tally will be made on Friday night; I would imagine somewhere around eight, nine o’clock. We will have the results of an election just as had the election taken place on nomination place, this is the party or this is what would have formed the government. We will repeat the very same process two weeks later on the second of March; four days before the actual elections on the seventh—the same transparency, the same validation, the same ramification, the same impact. Why? So that two weeks later, four days before you go to the polls because see election isn’t a guessing game. For those of you who are candidates, if you have done your homework, if you have canvassed well, if you have registered voters well and you have brought out your voters—election is not a guess game. You have X number of voters on the list: X numbers will support you, X numbers will support your opponent and maybe there is a margin of undecided. But you ought to know before Election Day how that result will peter out.”

Aikman says Saint Mary’s Hall was chosen for the mock Election Day since it once served as an official counting station. He says if anyone would like to contribute funds to the poll, an Election Poll 2012 Account has been opened at the Heritage Bank. Since Friday is not a holiday, it is not certain that the masses will come out.