BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 24, 2019– The first round of the village council elections commenced on Sunday, June 23, across the country, and over 200 residents went out to exercise their right to vote. A total of thirty five (35) villages were entered into the first round of voting,  consisting of 3 villages in Corozal, 3 in Orange Walk, 10 in Belize, 4 in Cayo, 3 in Stann Creek and 12 in Toledo.

The majority of voters came out in favor of the People’s United Party (PUP), which garnered 18 total village council wins out of the 35 participating councils. The United Democratic Party (UDP) garnered  10 council wins, while independent councils obtained 7 wins countrywide.

In Corozal, all village residents who participated unanimously cast their votes in favor of the UDP, who won in all 3 villages.

The opposite was the case in Orange Walk, where all votes were cast in favor of the PUP, securing them all 3 council wins. Independent council voters came out in full force in the Belize district and these councils had the majority of wins, with 5 council victories, followed by the 4 UDP village council victories and 1 council victory for the PUP.

In Cayo, both the PUP and UDP had 2 victories out of the 4 participating villages, while in Stann Creek independent councils claimed yet another victory with 2 out of 3 council wins, while the PUP had the final 1 of the 3. The district with the most village councils entered into the elections was Toledo, where the PUP dominated with a total of 11 out of the possible 12 wins, and the UDP fell behind with a single council win.

Upon the counting of the ballots it was ascertained that a total of 123 voters came out in support of the PUP, 73 supported the UDP and 49 supported independent councils, bringing the total number of participating electors to 245 persons.

The village council elections are expected to resume on Sunday, June 30, with a remainder of forty-six villages expected to participate across the country.