Motorcades of red, blue and yellow rolled in the streets of Belize City this morning and this afternoon, as the political parties brought their candidates to Mahogany Street for nomination for General Elections 2008, scheduled for Thursday, February 7, 2008. This is the day, Nomination Day, when everybody is still a winner, in his/her mind. The energy and the excitement were high.
On February 7, voters countrywide will make their pick from among the candidates vying to represent each of Belize’s 31 electoral divisions. Divisions like Toledo West and Cayo South will have as many as five candidates, while others, such as Queen’s Square and Fort George, will have only the PUP and UDP candidates.
We attempted to get a final list of candidates from the Elections and Boundaries Department this evening, but Chief Elections Officer, Ruth Meighan, told us after 6 p.m. that the information had not yet been compiled, and faxes were still being received from out-district posts. Our newspaper count places the total number of candidates at 93 – 31 UDP, 31 PUP, and 31 from various third parties.
While the collective energy of UDP Opposition officials and supporters in the old capital surpassed that of their incumbent PUP counterparts, their followings were comparable. Police estimates say that both parties had about the same number of people in their motorcades. The third party showing was far less flamboyant.
In the streets, many have been trying to get a read as to what will happen in the upcoming elections. We put the question first to PUP leader Said Musa, candidate for Fort George in Belize City. How many of the 31 seats are sure wins for his party? Musa’s response was the same as it was when our newspaper asked him to make predictions leading up to 2003; that is, that the PUP would win yet again—even though he could not say that there were any sure seats.
“I am very confident that we will get a majority,” Musa replied. “Obviously in the climate that we live in today, it is very difficult to predict the mood and the choices of people. I think people are very smart, I think people realize that they have to look at the issues very seriously, they have to examine the manifesto of both political parties, but I think what will be the telling signal point for the People’s United Party, is candidate-to-candidate; we have the better candidates. I think no doubt about that, and I think that is what will send us through to victory.”
But Opposition Leader Dean Barrow, who represents the Queen’s Square division in Belize City, said that the PUP will lose, and the US$10 million Venezuela money being gifted out in the weeks running up to elections won’t help. In fact, said Barrow, it will backfire, because for every person who gets, there are 10 more who won’t.
“All over the country people are making it clear that they wish for a change,” Barrow remarked. “When you start to get into the specifics, you hear about corruption, and the way people are fed up about that. You hear about the high cost of living, you hear about unemployment, you hear then about the bread and butter issues, the difficulty in getting a piece of land, so there is that kind of practical compulsion as well where people are concerned to vote for a change because it aught to mean and they hope it will mean better for them.”
Barrow describes his constituency – Queen’s Square – as impregnable, and even though Musa was not as boldly confident, both men say that none of the third parties or alternate parties will garner any victories in the elections. But Musa told the media that the third parties will, in fact, help the PUP.
“When I look at the persons who are running and the platforms on which they are running, whether it be the VIP or any other party, third party, I believe that they will pull from the Opposition,” Musa told the media.
One-third party candidate who seems persistent is Patrick Rogers, representative for the Vision Inspired by the People in Collet Division. Rogers ran against PUP’s Cordel Hyde for Lake I in 2003.
“I would like to think that the consistency that I’ve shown has started to convince voters that they are dead serious about ending this two party…We got a commitment from our community that if it takes 20 years, we will see this thing through,” Rogers said. “Any alternative party will be offering more than that one cent, head tail; heads comes – PUP tails – UDP, any alternative party will offer Belize more than that.”
Rogers said that the VIP has five solid candidates. If they “minimize mistakes,” among them, he said, they will win two Southside constituencies.
In Collet, Rogers is going up against a formidable PUP candidate, and one of a handful of women in the 2008 race. The PUP’s Carolyn Trench-Sandiford topped the polls for the PUP in the 2006 municipal elections.
She said that the people inspired her to run, but the other reason why she is pursuing electoral politics is because she has always wanted to be an agent of change. She is challenging two men, both with the same first name:
“I have two Patricks in Collet, you know. They had to send two Patricks after me,” she jested.
Her other opponent is Patrick Faber, the incumbent for the Collet, representing the UDP.
One of the Opposition contenders to watch is Sedi Elrington, who is going up against PUP Deputy Leader/Tourism Minister, Godfrey Smith. Sedi has run for Pickstock in previous elections, but said that this time he really wants to win. His strategy: targeting young people, single mothers, and heads of households, and diligently visiting homes and acquainting himself with the voters –especially those who were in the PUP’s camp.
Elrington went against the grain today when he brought out supporters not in traditional red UDP shirts, but in green.
He explained that, “For a lot of people in the Pickstock division, they say Mr. Elrington, we like you, but we no necessarily like the UDP party, we will support you, they feel much more comfortable to wear a green shirt than a red shirt, or wear a black shirt than a red shirt. When I first started out in the division I had gang members that would have nothing to do with a red shirt.”
There are now 17 days left to Elections 2008. There are over 90 horses in the gate.