From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section contains information about a forthcoming or ongoing election. Content may change dramatically as the election approaches and unfolds.

Belize

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Belize

Queen Elizabeth II Governor-General Colville Young Prime Minister Said Musa Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow National Assembly Senate House of Representatives Political parties PUP - UDP Elections: 2008 Districts Foreign relations

Other countries · Politics Portal view • talk • edit

A legislative election will be held in the nation of Belize in 2008. Beginning with this election, Belizeans will elect to the House of Representatives 31 members instead of 29.

By law, the ruling People's United Party has up to June of that year to call an election; their term of office expires on March 5.

Contents 1 Early predictions 1.1 First SPEAR poll (2005) 1.2 Second SPEAR poll (2006) 1.3 University of Belize poll 2 2007 Village council elections 3 Third party announcements 4 List of announced candidates by party and constituency

The Society for the Promotion of Education and Research (SPEAR) released the results of an opinion poll conducted in conjunction with SJC's Belizean Studies Centre in October 2005. This poll showed that Prime Minister Said Musa had an approval rating of just 19.8%, with 71.6% of respondents saying he should call an early election. In an election 49% of voters would consider voting for a third party; between the current parties 34.5% said they would vote for the PUP and the rest for the UDP. Both parties had muted reactions, but The Belize Times, a PUP newspaper, questioned the mechanics of the poll and Kremandala Show panelist Cedric Flowers challenged its validity. SPEAR was vindicated in its findings by the results of the 2006 municipal election, in which the UDP won the majority of seats. ^[1]

As a followup, SPEAR conducted a second poll released on October 31, 2006 (News 5). According to the poll 70.5% of Belizeans polled disapproved of Said Musa's leadership, with 15.1 approving and 14.5 having no opinion. A majority called for early elections as well as political parties' disclosure of campaign finance contributions. When asked who they would vote for, 32% said UDP, 11.8% PUP and 22% a third party. Smaller numbers either said they would not vote at all or declined to say who they would vote for. SPEAR director Gustavo Perera said he was "confident" in the results of the poll. (News 5, October 31 and November 3)

As before, neither political party appeared to put much stock in the poll. While the UDP naturally crowed about its support among the people, it was cautious in assuming a 2008 victory. The PUP insisted their dismal numbers would improve through 2007, while third parties said the results validated their feelings. The nation's largest newspaper, the Amandala, headlined that more than half of Belizeans had rejected the PUP and UDP by either supporting a third party or declining to vote; this notion was soundly rejected by the UDP in particular and resulted in back and forth editorial responses in the Amandala and the UDP's Guardian in November, with the UDP charging that publisher Evan X Hyde was playing into the PUP's hands by supporting third parties openly instead of the UDP, and Amandala reiterating that its policy was of Belizeans First and that neither party had stuck to that theme since Independence.

In March of 2007, the University of Belize and Saint John's College Junior College's Belizean Studies Centre conducted a one-weekend poll of 430 randomly selected persons seeking opinions on the 2008 elections. The poll was supervised by UB Registrar Dr. Roy Young, former PUP mayor of Belize City. On the question of approval of party leaders, the UDP's Dean Barrow led all contestants with 55.7% approval; sitting Prime Minister Said Musa scored 14.9%, while independent leaders rated below that. Results by party were similar, with the UDP scoring 55.5%, the PUP 16% and independents scores ranging from 2 to 9%. The scores represent similar views to that of the SPEAR polls, but as before neither party is taking this poll seriously.

• 7 News story by Alfonso Noble
• News 5 story

Beginning in March of 2007 and continuing through April, Belize's 181 villages are holding council elections on Sundays of nearly every weekend. While the Village Council are supposed to be non-partisan, the major parties and independents are considering them a litmus test for the general elections. From the very beginning, back and forth charges of inaccurate statistics and party favouritism have stained the elections, with both the blue and the red claiming victory in the majority of contested seats. Elections are scheduled to last through April 22.

Several third parties have announced plans to participate in the upcoming election. Among them are established parties Vision Inspired by the People out of Belmopan and We the People Reform Movement from the North. Further south, Cornelius Dueck's National Reform Party and Wil Maheia's People's National Party have made announcements regarding their candidacy.

Persistent reports indicate that the third parties are seeking to unify in order to present a stronger challenge to the main parties; however, no concrete plans were announced toward this end. Reports from the Amandala of March 18, 2007, however, indicate that the PNP and WTP have formed an alliance and are expected to announce their combined slate soon.

In the Amandala of Sunday, March 11, former party the National Reality Truth Creation Party appeared to be returning to the political scene with a full page ad endorsing one Ebony Babb for Queen's Square; the ad also extolled the Christian virtues of the party, led by musician Jorge Ernesto Babb and reportedly featuring Senator Godwin Hulse. The ad appealed to all "natural Creole born Belizeans" to support the NRTCP in 2008. It is not known whether this is a formal candidate announcement, though Babb appeared on KREM Radio several weeks prior espousing the virtues of the party.

Bold indicates incumbent.

Constituency	PUP	UDP	VIP	NRP	PNP	WTP
Albert	Mark Espat	Tom Morrison
Belize Rural Central	Ralph Fonseca [2]	Michael Hutchinson		Derick Stuart
Belize Rural North	Earl Perez	Edmond Castro		Darlene Graham
Belize Rural South	Merlene Spain	Manuel Heredia Jr.
Belmopan	Moises Cal[3]	John Saldivar [4]	Paul Morgan
Caribbean Shores	Jose Coye	Carlos Perdomo
Cayo Central	Mario Castellaños	Rene Montero		George Boiton Jr.
Cayo North	Nasim Lisbey	Salvador Fernandez		Alden McDougal
Cayo Northeast	Orlando Habet	Elvin Penner	Robert "Bobby" Lopez[5]	Cornelius Dueck
Cayo South	Charles Galvez	Ramon Witz	Hubert Enriquez	Melvin Jordan
Cayo West	Kendall Mendez	Erwin Contreras
Collet	Carolyn Trench-Sandiford	Patrick Faber	Patrick Rogers
Corozal Bay	Juan Vildo Marin	Pablo Marin
Corozal North	Valdemar Castillo	Nemencio Acosta		Manuel Avila
Corozal Southeast	Florencio Marin Jr. (son of current area rep)	Servando Samos
Corozal Southwest	Gregorio Garcia	Gabriel Martinez
Dangriga	Cassian Nunez	Arturo Roches
Fort George	Said Musa	Dr. George Gough
Freetown	Francis Fonseca	Michael Peyrefitte
Lake Independence	Cordel Hyde	Vanley Jenkins
Mesopotamia	Austin Waight	Michael Finnegan
Orange Walk Central	John Briceño	Rosendo Urbina
Orange Walk East	Dave Burgos	Marcel Cardona
Orange Walk North	Servulo Baeza	Gaspar Vega		Hilberto Nah
Orange Walk South	Ismael Cal	Mark Pech		Enio Lopez
Pickstock	Godfrey Smith	Wilfred Elrington
Port Loyola	Oscar Rosado	Anthony Martinez
Queen's Square	Anthony Sylvester	Dean Barrow
Stann Creek West	Rodwell Ferguson	Melvin Hulse	Mateo Polanco
Toledo East	Mike Espat	Eden Martinez		Charles Selgado	Wil Maheia
Toledo West	Marcial Mes	Juan Coy	Max Cho	Fermin Choc	Dionisio Chuc

1. ^ http://www.7newsbelize.com/archive/10170505.html
2. ^ Currently undecided.
3. ^ Currently under investigation in Panama for money laundering charges (Channel 5 story); has resigned but status tentative.
4. ^ Currently representing Cayo South.
5. ^ A possible candidate for Belmopan but the VIP leadership has yet to settle this.

Elections in Belize

Legislative

1954 | 1957 | 1961 | 1965 | 1969 | 1974 | 1979 | 1984 | 1989 | 1993 | 1998 | 2003 | 2008

Municipal

Pre 1960's | 1961/63 | 1965/66 | 1969 | 1971/72 | 1974/75 | 1977/78 | 1980/81 | 1983/85 | 1986/88 | 1989/91 | 1993/4 | 1996-7 | 1999-2000 | 2003 | 2006 | 2009