Zenaida Moya will be the UDP’s mayoral candidate in March of next year. That’s the upshot of what has been a long, bitter and divisive campaign leading up to the most fiercely contested convention in recall. Here are the unofficial results of the convention after the counting of votes finished this morning at 9:00. For Mayor, Anthony Michael got 2,915 votes, while Zenaida Moya earned 3,961 – a difference of 1,016 votes.

For councillors, Wayne Usher topped the polls with 2979 votes while Eric Chang was right behind him with 2,970 votes. Chang becomes the first Belizean of Taiwanese origin to be elected to offer himself for public political office in Belize. Chang was born in Taiwan but educated and raised in Belize. Andrew Faber, brother of education Minister Patrick Faber was third. Laura Esquivel who topped the polls in the City Council election of 2006 was fourth. A trio of newcomers were fifth, sixth and seventh. They are, respectively, Dion Leslie, Roger Espejo and Kevin Singh. Singh, who is a barber is followed by another in his profession, Dean Samuels, who will run for a second term. Fellow second termers, Leila Peyrefitte and Phillip Willoughby fill out the slate of ten councillors. But of course, that dry recital of names and numbers don’t even tell half the story. The real story is the scheming, the drama, the ruthless brinkmanship politics, the electioneering, that went into this one convention.

But if you thought, the build-up was unprecedented, wait till you see what the turnout looked like. News Director Jules Vasquez and camera-man Alex Ellis were there all day yesterday, all night, and this morning again. They have the story at a granular level of detail. Here it is.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The City Centre grounds were full to overflowing and anyone entering was bombarded with a battery of names, pictures, slates, numbers and slogans.

But more than just politics it had the air of some kind of political festival with a deejay, massive crowds on the very wet grounds and tents. But it was no holiday for the candidates and their camps as they made the last minute crunch on their cell phones and personally greeting visitors to the event. And while the councillor candidates had to fight to get known in the list of 34 in the thick of this political moshpit, the mayoral candidates had big names doing greeting for them.

Hon. Edmund Castro, Area Representative Belize Rural North
“I am supporting Zenaida.”

Jules Vasquez,
Do you think the leadership or the institutional base of the party is working with, against or is neutral towards Zenaida?

Hon. Edmund Castro,
“I think as a party different political leaders or the different representatives hedge their bets on either or but I think Zenaida was there for us when we wanted to defeat the Fonsecas and I personally will not turn my back on her. I will support her and encourage people to support her.”

Jules Vasquez,
Now it can be said that the reason you’re supporting her is because she’s done business with your wife?

Hon. Edmund Castro,
“No, what can be said and I can clarify that is that we had not collected no money from that portion of the garbage dump and every weekend, Clear the Land has trucks working in the city, those backhoes running the streets of Belize City are for me, I own those things and I will do whatever is best for the party, for the country, and for the entire area that I live.”

Anthony Michael had a family of UDP royalty on his side; while Moya had support across political lines. Her mood was upbeat and it was probably because inside the lines were consistently packed with close to 100 people at all times as voters deliberated a particularly long ballot sheet.

Anthony Michael, Candidate for Mayor
“My machinery is in place. Getting up this morning I felt comfortable because my election did not start two months ago. My election started two and a half years ago.”

Jules Vasquez,
Looking out there on the ground now, I see another thing. I see Zenaida has you out on shirts on whose is wearing her shirts significantly. Shirts don’t vote but people who have on the shirts do vote. I see she has a much more muscular and visible presence outside in the compound than you do. What is your response?

Anthony Michael,
“Sometimes people put on shirts for different reasons. I do not have the machinery behind me as I would have wish to print more shirts, printed more banners, did more TV ads on your television to give you a little bit more income. You notice I had to pick my slots and there were few. But I was on the streets Jules working day and night.”

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“There is no doubt that the party obviously is still extremely strong, extremely popular. The fact that it is such a keenly contested race has of course helped to swell the numbers but there is no getting away from the fact of the huge numbers and that is very very good for us.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you able to say which candidate you’re supporting?

Hon. Dean Barrow,
“Absolutely not. I’ve been very careful throughout as you know. There’s been speculation and of course that’s all part of the way these things proceed but I’ve been officially neutral. I will continue that way until the counting is finished. When the counting is finished and the results are in, I will congratulate the winner, commiserate with the loser, and try to work with both of them and all those that are elected so that the party can move forward so that healing can take place and so that we can go on to produce record numbers for the actual election in March of next year.”

Jules Vasquez,
Sir did you sanction by omission or commission any sort of political fatwa on Zenaida Moya?

Hon. Dean Barrow,
“Absolutely not. I know that feelings are running very high. I know that individuals in the leadership of the party have been lining up on one side or another and that is as it should be in a democracy. The fact that the fight got extremely messy, especially in the end, is a little regrettable but in the end also part of the democratic process. I clearly have my own views but I insist that it is no part of my role and function at this juncture to make my personal take on things known.”

Jules Vasquez,
Looking outside, shirts don’t vote, but with the number of shirts you certainly have the Michael Camp outnumbered. What is that in your mind a reflection of?

Zenaida Moya, Mayoral Candidate
“Well the people have a lot of confidence in me and they are here to support me. It will tell at the end of the day.”

Jules Vasquez,
I see Port Loyola has had one of the longest lines throughout the day, I know Boots Martinez is working intimately with Anthony Michael. Are you concerned of the numbers that he can bring from Port Loyola?

Zenaida Moya,
“No, no, no; not at all. In Port Loyola I have very big support and those people will be coming out.”

Jules Vasquez,
I spoke to the Prime Minister. He said he is political neutral in this and he will not disclose who he is supporting of he is supporting anyone. Do you feel that is actually the case, that he is being neutral?

Zenaida Moya,
“I am not sure. I will have to take his word at that.”

And while there was a palpable tension between the candidates – that wasn’t the story; the story was the crowd. By the afternoon it had swelled to an unprecedented proportion. Despite the rain, the wait, the lack of amenities and the conditions, people just kept coming in – and not just those being brought in by area representatives, genuine walk-ins, people who left their homes on a rainy Sunday afternoon to stand in line for 45 minutes. In fact, the Caribbean Shores line was consistently among the longest.

And impressive almost incredible show with people considered to be of a PUP background openly participating, while Eric Chang mobilized the Chinese community’s vote and other councillor candidates worked the line hoping to make an impression in a list of 33 opponents.

Vernon Cuthkelvin, Candidate for Councillor
“It is absolutely wild. First of all when you have 33 other persons with a lot of energy bringing out people themselves it is unique things happening especially when everybody is walking around with their slates. It gets crazy, one candidate has a slate that the other doesn’t have. It is all mixed up right now, it is like a good old, hoe you call that soup where everything is just thrown into it – boil up. Boil up di go on yah right now.”

Jules Vasquez,
It is madness out here. How does a candidate distinguish himself from the 33 others?

Tommy Shaw, Candidate for Councillor
“Well I mean it is a little hard work Jules and I am seeing that I have some people supporting me but then again when you go into the ballot room it is a different story. People can say I have you but it doesn’t necessarily mean they do. So it is hard work and at the end of the day we will see what the outcome is going to be.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you afraid that you get just lost in the mix because it is unprecedented, 34?

Tommy Shaw,
“Actually I am enjoying this. I am enjoying meeting different people and explaining some of my views, my goals that I have and I actually am enjoying standing out here and talking to people and getting them to vote for me.”

Roger Espejo, Candidate for Councillor
“Having 34 candidates, as I’ve always been saying, is a good thing for politics because you have a buffet to choose from. Yes a lot of numbers have been pummelled today and that was expected because it was expected to be a very competitive event. You have 34 people that want to get in, 24 people will go home with their hearts broken and it has been a very competitive event but in the very end I think the voters generally speaking will not follow slates that have been offered on the ground. A lot of candidates, well you have two Mayoral candidate and you have 34 councillor candidates and you see a lot of different papers moving around and to some degree that is causing a bit of confusion.”

Jules Vasquez,
What do you make of this immense crowd?

Roger Espejo,
“I predicted that this would be a very large pouring out, especially because the weather was with us today and because of the intense passion behind the Mayoral candidacy, and because you have 34 candidates, that in itself made this a very attractive event, if I can call it that.”

Jules Vasquez,
I see who’ve been traditional supporters of the PUP out here. What does that mean?

Roger Espejo,
“Well new to politics, I am not familiar with all the faces.”

Jules Vasquez,
Who will it favour?

Roger Espejo,
“It is anyone’s guess, my guess would be that it would favour the Mayor, the incumbent Mayor.”

Laura Esquivel, Candidate for Councillor
“Well myself I am very confident. Of course it is a UDP convention, everybody recognizes the name. I know a lot of people know that I follow my father’s values and that I would do exactly as my father would do in my own right of course. So in terms of having the name recognition in a UDP convention, I am okay that way.”

Jules Vasquez,
When you say name recognition, Zenaida Moya comes immediately to mind because she is such a prominent national figure. Are you prepared at this point to entertain the possibility that you may win and Ms. Moya who you’ve opposed in the campaign may also win?

Laura Esquivel,
“Well of course we have to entertain the idea, there’s always a possibility. Of course you know I’m supporting Anthony Michael and I still hope that Anthony Michael will carry it through today.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you prepared to work with Zenaida Moya if both of you all win?

Laura Esquivel,
“That’s something that we will say after the convention.”

And at 5:00 pm, when the polls closed, this was the crowd still waiting in line. The strong turnout favoured Moya, and when she went to check her figures with the Secretary General Phillippa Bailey after 5:00, she was confident.

And that is exactly half the story. The other half of the counting, the declaration of victory the aftermath and the analysis will be coming up shortly.