BELIZE CITY, Sun. Jan 31, 2021– The face of the PUP City Council team that will be seeking to be selected by Belize City residents in the upcoming Municipal Elections come March 3 has undergone a bit of a change, following a virtual convention held over the weekend. Four councilors from the previous team of 10 headed by Mayor Bernard Wagner made announcements over the course of this month that they would not be seeking re-election. These four are the deputy mayor, Michael “Chips” Norales, and councilors Oscar Arnold, Candice Pitts and Ryan Elijio.
Following these announcements, there were a series of individual campaigns launched (mainly through social media) by persons aspiring to be candidates on the team to represent the PUP in the municipal elections. As a result, the party hosted a convention at which delegates had to choose the persons who they wanted to fill the ten seats on the PUP team in the elections from among twenty-two hopefuls. On Saturday, January 30, all delegates were made to report to the Belize Elementary School gymnasium, where they were able to cast their votes electronically. The results were tallied on Saturday, and by evening, the new candidates had been announced.
The candidate who received the highest number of votes is returning councilor, Allan Pollard, Jr., who got a total of 630 votes. Notably, Pollard also vied against Dianne “Sister B” Finnegan in the Queen’s Square Division in the past general elections, in which he almost clinched a victory for the PUP. In addition, councilor Micah Goodin, who received 550 votes, will also be seeking reelection, as well as councilors Javier Castellanos, who got a total of 504 votes, and Albert Vaughan, who received 377 votes.
The other candidates who were chosen by the delegates to be on the PUP team are Kaya Cattouse, with a total of 547 votes; Edmund Kwan, with 416 votes; Deannie Requeña with a total of 401 votes; Natasha Pipersburgh with 382 votes, Michael Novelo with 362 votes and Stephanne Hamilton with 324 votes. Mayor Wagner will also be heading this new team of councilors and made the announcement two weeks prior to the convention that he would be seeking reelection because he has “unfinished business” at the Belize City Council.
Two candidates who were hoping to serve for a second term were councilors Aisha Gentle and Delthrude Hylton, who received 257 votes and 258 votes respectively. As it turns out, these two aspirants were unsuccessful at making the team of ten to represent the PUP on March 3.