BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 7, 2022– High tensions flared in the United Democratic Party this weekend at an emergency National Party Council (NPC) meeting triggered by the Hon. Patrick Faber’s refusal to submit a written resignation on Friday, January 31, as he had promised he would do. Over the weekend, the NPC voted to activate Faber’s oral resignation by, reports say, the narrowest of margins. The Opposition is now a house divided, with almost half of the NPC voting in opposition of the activation of the oral resignation made by Faber. Over the weekend, former UDP senator and party faithful, Orson “OJ” Elrington called the party a “dictatorship”. Reports are that Hon. Hugo Patt, who is currently the deputy leader of the UDP, has been voted in as interim leader of the party pending a national convention to elect a new leader.
On Friday, a leaked e-mail exchange between Patrick Faber and UDP chairman, Michael Peyrefitte, confirmed Faber’s refusal to resign as party leader after he received an email informing him that the Central Executive of the party had given him until noon on Friday to submit an official letter. When that hour arrived, no letter had been submitted. Faber in fact decried his second ouster from Parliament which took place early last week, once again by Hon. Moses “Shyne” Barrow. Barrow was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition last week with little fanfare, but Faber stated in a subsequent e-mail that this move had caused him to feel “uneasy”, and he classified those UDP parliamentarians eager to take over the leadership reins of the party as “hungry vultures”
As a result, Faber refused to submit a written resignation—pointing to what he viewed as a wrestle for power within the party as his justification, but he made it clear that it was not his intention to remain leader of the party “beyond a national convention.” In response, UDP chairman Michael Peyrefitte held a national party council on Saturday, and reports say that Faber only lost by 1 or 2 votes at most, after the question of whether or not Faber’s January 24 address should be accepted as his formal resignation was put to the NPC.
Following the meeting on Saturday, attorney OJ Elrington,, a high-profile member of the UDP, commented on social media, “We now have a dictatorship in the UDP. The D is no longer for Democratic but rather Dictatorship.”
It’s worth noting that, in his correspondence, Faber had urged the NPC to hold votes for all executive offices within the party and not just the party leader post.
While Faber acknowledged that his egress was imminent, he said that he could not sit by and watch his beloved party be devoured. So, while by all indications this is the end of Faber’s leadership of the UDP, there is yet no indication that he will wholly withdraw from party affairs, despite not being present at last Friday’s House meeting.
The UDP is now planning to elect a party leader on March 27. At this time, the two contenders in the race are the current Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Shyne Barrow, and Albert area representative, Hon. Tracy Panton.