“Predetermined outcome …by party hierarchy” – Francis Fonseca, unopposed, will become new PUP Party Leader
Albert division area representative Mark Espat this evening issued a press statement, announcing that he has decided to exit the race for the People’s United Party (PUP) leadership convention, following the refusal of the party’s leadership to implement two proposals Espat insists would make voting at the convention more democratic.
Espat says that as the rules now stand, only 1% of PUP supporters and members will be allowed to vote, and he argues that the process should be far more inclusive.
He said that the convention is being “rigged” for Freetown area representative, Francis Fonseca.
Francis is the first cousin of former PUP campaign manager Ralph Fonseca, who resigned with party leader and former Prime Minister Said Musa in the face of the party’s worst defeat in its history, in the recent general elections.
“This convention is being kept deliberately undemocratic to achieve a predetermined outcome,” Espat charged. “I have been clear and consistent in my campaign to party members and supporters: My candidacy is dependent on a free and a fair convention. Today, just 7 working days before the convention, I still do not know who will elect the new leader on 30th March …and the leadership insisted that more Belizeans will not have a voice in electing the next leader.
“Under these circumstances, I will not offer myself in a closed, undemocratic, and fixed convention… I do not seek to become leader of our party at a convention that denies the right to vote to 99% of those who voted for the PUP in the last general elections.”
Espat accused the party’s hierarchy of using shameful tactics to install Fonseca as Musa’s successor:
“Chairpersons of constituency branches are being threatened with removal, while lifetime PUP supporters are being locked out of the convention because they refuse to pledge allegiance to Fonseca for leader,” remarked Espat, adding that the PUP’s radio and newspaper media organs are being used to attack him and Briceño, while promoting Fonseca.
“It is abundantly clear that no tactic is too low to ensure the crowning of Francis Fonseca as PUP leader,” he furthermore commented.
Musa announced his resignation on February 13, and only last week, another aspirant to take Musa’s place, former Deputy Prime Minister Johnny Briceño, also backed out of the race, similarly citing rigged leadership elections.
“I fought to reverse the loss of political representation suffered by increasing numbers of Belizeans. The status quo’s rejection of change does not do justice to the party’s membership or to the ambitions of a democratic institution; the special interest groups that control the party won again,” said Espat. “Their victory guarantees the exclusion of the vast majority of PUP supporters from choosing their leader. The sad truth is that even when the party loses, the special interest groups still win.”
He said that on February 14, the day after Musa formally announced his resignation as party leader, Musa told him and Cordel Hyde, PUP Lake I area representative, that he, Musa, prefers Francis Fonseca to be his successor.
Beyond that, said Espat, Musa’s two sons – PUP Public Relations Director Yasser Musa, and Secretary-General Henry Charles Usher – have been openly campaigning for Fonseca.
“Our PUP constitution says that, ‘The best form of government is based on democratic principles that guarantee the right to vote in free and fair elections, and where governments are accountable to the people.’
“How dishonorable [it is] then, that the current leadership of the PUP opposes greater democracy, refuses to give more PUPs the right to vote for their new leader, and conspires to install their own candidate by any means necessary.
“From the beginning of the people’s movement, the redeeming quality of PUP politics has been the capacity for self-correction. This capacity is now endangered. Of the more than 49,000 people who voted for the PUP on the 7th February, the status quo will allow just 654 persons to make one of the most important decisions in our party’s history.”
In his prepared statement to the media, Espat said that 16 of 31 constituencies – a clear majority – endorsed the reform proposals, proposals which, we recall, he and Cordel Hyde submitted in a joint letter to then party chairman, Francis Fonseca.
The People’s United Party Secretariat has promised to issue a press release responding to Espat’s statement on Thursday afternoon.