PUP takes Hattieville, claims majority of village councils

After a break for Easter, Village Council elections were back on the menu this Sunday in forty-two rural locations. This time around, the People’s United Party claims twenty-two wins, gives fourteen to the U.D.P., and lists four as won by independents. According to the P.U.P., its big victories were in the Belize District where they picked up seven of the eight villages, including Hattieville and Maskall. In Orange Walk, the blue party says they took Yo Creek and Fireburn–two of the three contested villages–and picked up another twelve in Corozal, Cayo, and Stann Creek.

But while the P.U.P. was quick to boast about their numbers, the United Democratic Party focussed on what it called its “major victories” and “considerable gains in former P.U.P. strongholds.” Those victories were in Lord’s Bank in the Belize District, San Lazaro in Orange Walk, and St. Margaret’s Village in Cayo. For its gains the U.D.P. listed a number of split councils saying it won six councillors in Laguna, four in Jacintoville, two first time councillors in San Marcos, and the chairmanship in San Felipe, all in the Toledo District. In Armenia the U.D.P. said it took three councillors; the chairman and two councillors in Pomona; five councillors in Lucky Strike, three councillors in Maskall; and two in Corozalito. On Sunday, the final six villages will hold elections, bringing an end to the 2007 balloting, which for the first time, became an open battleground between the major political parties.