BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 10, 2020– The Belize Progressive Party (BPP) announced today, via a press release, that the party has nine candidates who will contest the general elections that are scheduled to be called this November.
BPP made the announcement following what it referred to as a “very successful meeting” which lasted some six hours and was attended by “patriots from all across the jewel.” The meeting was held in Belmopan.
The BPP is led by Patrick Rogers, an accountant by training, and the party entered the political fray in time for the 2015 general election, fielding 25 out of the 31 candidates needed to represent all of the country’s electoral constituencies.
The constituencies for which the BPP is offering its nine candidates are Pickstock, Fort George, Port Loyola, Freetown, Queen’s Square, Toledo East, Stann Creek West, Belize Rural North and Corozal Southeast. BPP did not immediately name its nine candidates.
“Among the many resolutions passed at the meeting, it was resolved that the deadline for applications for candidates wishing to contest under the Belize Progressive Party banner is set at July 15, 2020,” said the BPP release.
“A resolution to fully support the efforts of grassroots land activists Nigel Petillo and the Land Advocacy for National Development and Sustainability (LANDS) movement was unanimously passed. The Belize Progressive Party takes this opportunity to express its solidarity with land activist Nigel Petillo in his quest for grass-roots and working-class citizens to own a piece of land as their birthright,” the release further said.
The BPP said that it is committed to ensure that all Belizeans over 18-years-old, who do not yet own land, obtain a piece of land, as a matter of social justice. The BPP characterized the police harassment of landless Belizeans as a policy failure of the government to cater to the needs of ordinary people.
The BPP release added, “The Belize Progressive Party also calls on the government to keep all land, sea and air borders closed until the COVID threat can be managed in a sustainable manner that will not jeopardize our fragile health system, as health still remains more important than wealth.”
The BPP said Belize should pass the necessary legislation, “…that would encourage a culture of self-sustainability and a national drive to explore the production of various value-added commodities for local consumption and global export markets. These actions would position the country to once again achieve food sovereignty, income generation and crop diversification which includes vegetable farming, poultry production and the cultivation of hemp. This will create less demand for imported food and has the potential to solve the country’s foreign exchange problems.”
Feature photo: Patrick Rogers, BPP Leader