There have been a number of lopsided results in general elections post-independence—in 1984, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2020 … and 2025, which was an absolute demolition. On March 12 this year, the incumbent PUP not only won the same number of seats it had won in 2020 (26), but incredibly eclipsed its previous share of the popular vote by almost 8 percent. While it wasn’t a “fair” fight—the leaders of the main opposition (the UDP) were more busy fighting each other than fighting to win the election—no one believed a united UDP could have won. The PUP had done well enough in government between 2020 and 2025, and their victory was considered well deserved.
The UDP remains in a state of disarray, is nowhere closer to reconstructing itself than it was when it struggled to put up candidates for the election. Effectively, for many months now the PUP has been running the country unchallenged politically. The PUP seemed to be in for a long honeymoon. There were challenges, troubles in the world due to military and tariff wars; climate extremes, pests, and diseases at home; and government employees clamoring for a salary increase because of inflation, and for the settling of some outstanding debts. But the PUP was the only cock in the yard, so they could strut as they went about governing the nation. Some charge that while they were doing our work, they were also about a little wheeling and dealing with the nation’s resources.
Most things, both good and bad, eventually come to an end. The honeymoon for the PUP, no one expected it to end so soon. Maybe the PUP was bored, looking to pick a fight, why it chose to fatten already plump employees at the top. The PUP invited pressure. The uninvited pressure caused by the pandemic was tough; but the people were tolerant, long-suffering, and together we weathered that storm. This new pressure, which the government largely brought on itself, they are very much on a limb with this one. This pressure the government is under, Belizeans across the spectrum don’t mind watching it force them to squirm a little, and more substantially, are hopeful about what it will yield.
Public employees are demanding increased compensation for their services, from a PUP government that has been boastful about its achievements. Much of the PUP’s cockiness about the economy comes from the reality of today compared to where we were five or so years ago. Belizeans are smart enough to know that the government’s glowing report on its achievements doesn’t mean that the nation’s coffers are flushed to overflowing. We’ve all seen the numbers in the budget, so we all know our soup is on the lean side, that while it is not long water, it has not the kind of gumption that can give us all that was promised in Plan Belize 1.0.
Government’s employees might be accused of being inconsiderate of the nation’s financial reality, for their rejection of the first and second salary increase offers that the government made. For sure, it is fortunate that they did. Had they accepted either of the offers, which government said was the best our treasury could afford at this time, the opportunity that we have before us now, a chance for serious reform, would have been passed over. There are Belizeans, a small group, who are praying for the status quo, for no changes to be made, for government to continue operating without full transparency and accountability. And the country needs for that type of governance to end abruptly, now.
We’ve been trying to improve governance for some time, without much success. Some intellectual types put the blame for our failure on the people. The people have been blamed for not embracing third parties. The reality is that the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is really a race for two. While in some countries with the FPTP, third parties have done fairly well at the polls at times, the seats are always dominated by one or the other of the two main ones.
Electoral blowouts in this country, the near absolute wipeout of incumbents at the polls in four elections in the 44 years post-independence, indicate how depressed the Belizean people have often been by their leaders. Initially, after we got independence the people were satisfied by expressing their will at the polls, but after government after government didn’t get the sense (we changed governments in 1984, 1989, 1993, and 1998), the people realized that talking with the ballots wasn’t sufficient. Governments have forced the Belizean people to take to the streets. “Somebody” very big must be on the people’s side in 2025. This opportunity to get the change we need, it dropped right into our laps.
As always, it is the government’s employees who are in the best position to save the people. A lot depends on how much they see beyond their salaries in this present dispute. Government employees who might want their leaders to limit their focus to their salaries need to wise up, recognize that good governance is for the benefit of the majority, and keep it in the front lobe that it is the people’s taxes and production that pay their wages.
The PUP, they had it all. With the UDP being in such a mess, they could have honeymooned almost until kingdom come. But they tripped up, got arrogant. Pray God we don’t end up wasting this opportunity. Transparency and accountability now!
Israel’s dangerous attack on Iran
Belizeans know their orbit, that we are a Christian nation in the West. But we are not blind to the faults of our allies. Far too often, the West, led by the US, seeks military solutions to problems. The majority of Belizeans are decidedly anti-war. We must speak truth to power. War breeds more wars. These brutal wars, as Pope Francis prayed for, as Pope Leo calls for, they must end.
Joshua McElwee, in a story published by Reuters, “Pope Leo appeals for ‘reason’ amid Israel-Iran airstrikes, calls for dialogue”, said that the new pontiff said: “In such a delicate moment, I strongly wish to renew an appeal to responsibility and to reason …The commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue to build a lasting peace, founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good … No one should ever threaten the existence of another … It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all.”
Israel has claimed that bombing Iran was preemptive. All the independent sources say Iran wasn’t making nuclear weapons. But Zionist Israel says it was, and so it bombed Iran. Israel is not going to create peace on earth by killing all its enemies. Peace is going to reign when nations follow the footsteps of The Christ.
There are no saints. It seems incredible that four thousand years after Abraham walked this earth, some of his offspring put their religions and their greed to capture the world’s resources before humanity. Belizeans are astounded that Israel bombed Iran. Belizeans want an immediate end to the hostilities, to halt the toll on human lives and property, and to prevent the disruption of vital global trade that brings food, medicines, and fuel to people the world over.