Bernard defeated his own Councilor, Josue Carballo
ORANGE WALK TOWN, Sun. June 10, 2018– The area around the Louisiana Government School in Orange Walk Town became a battleground of Opposition People’s United Party (PUP) campaign workers, who worked all day to bring out voters in support for the two Orange Walk Town Council members who were locked in a high-spirited battle to secure the PUP Orange Walk East standard bearer position.
About one and a half hours after the polls closed at 5:00 p.m., word began to come out of the counting room that the three-term Orange Walk Town mayor, Kevin Bernard, had taken the lead over one of his councilors, Josue Carballo, who has been working the constituency since his loss to the United Democratic Party (UDP)’s Elodio Aragon, who was a first-time candidate in the November 2015 general elections.
The final tally showed that 1,778 voters had voted in the convention and Mayor Bernard garnered 935 votes in comparison to Carballo’s 827.
Whenever the general elections are called, Mayor Bernard will attempt to unseat the UDP’s Aragon.
In the 2015 elections, Aragon won with 3,000 votes, while Carballo received 2,452, a difference of 548 votes.
“On the heels of the municipal election, you are now offering yourself for national office, why is that?” Amandala asked Bernard, in the heat of the campaign, as he and Carballo manned the entrance, soliciting voters.
“I have always been working for this party and people from a very young age, and I believe that my work and experience have shown in this town,” Mayor Bernard replied.
“I know that I could contribute on a national level, and I know that the PUP is on its way to victory,” Mayor Bernard added.
We asked Mayor Bernard whether he would have offered himself for national office if the PUP had not increased its numbers in the municipal elections.
“It was always my intention to run in the next general elections,” Mayor Bernard said.
He added that he had no hard feelings against Councilor Carballo.
“At the end of this race, we will still have to work together to ensure a PUP victory for Orange Walk East,” he said.
There are over 8,000 registered voters in the Orange Walk East, which includes a big section of Orange Walk Town and 5 villages — Carmelita, Palmar, Tower Hill, Chan Pine Ridge and Santa Martha.
Mayor Bernard was sworn in as standard bearer for the Orange Walk East constituency by PUP chairman, Henry Charles Usher.
In his brief remarks, Bernard appealed to Carballo’s supporters to join him in the march to victory when the next general election is called.