Email

Print

So, then recall it is - and this weekend in the 7 villages of Cayo northeast the PUP were out gathering signatures to make it to that 30% threshold - which would be about 1800 registered voters. 7news went to Cayo northeast for that story - and here's what Daniel Ortiz found:...

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The Posters up in The Cayo Northeast Constituency continues to announce Area Representative Elvin Penner as "Humble", "Dedicated", and "Honest". These are remnants of the 2012 General Election, but the PUP hopes that his constituents no longer look to him as the man who best represents to these ideals on their behalf.

They started the process to trigger Penner's recall this weekend, following the blowback from the unfolding Immigration Scandal which implicates the current Area Rep.

The PUP wants to install Orlando "Landy" Habet, who lost to Penner in 2012 Elections by a margin of 17 votes:

Orlando "Landy" Habet - PUP Caretaker, Cayo Northeast
"The Party Leader wrote him a letter and asks him to resign by Monday; otherwise we would submit signatures with a petition for a recall of his seat."

As a result they set out to campaign from house in all the villages.

Hon. Julius Espat - Deputy Leader, PUP
"We have all the players from the Western region coming together and taking charge of different villages based on the structure that we have implemented."

Orlando "Landy" Habet - PUP Caretaker, Cayo Northeast
"We have initiated the process. We have had the support of the Western Caucus, we have had the support of our national party and our leader and we have commenced a drive today visiting the villages."

"We have 7 villages, so we have 7 teams; one in each village collecting the signatures from all those people who are so aggrieved by what has happened."

And to ensure that every single signature is reconciled at the Elections & Boundaries Department, each PUP operator collecting them has a rigorous process, so as to avoid the OCEANA referendum dilemma of last year:

Gina Tillett - Collecting Signatures
"You have to come in with a valid and you have to be a voter for Cayo Northeast Division. We are presently working in Esperanza today. While we are focusing on the Esperanza people - if you vote in Northeast you can also register here."

"You have to bring a valid ID; voters ID, drivers' license, Social Security, passport preferably and what we do is we full in the name; voters ID, address, phone number and your signature has to be identical to the one on the document provided."

"We also to ensure everything, take a picture of the person's voter ID as well back and front to verify everything because we don't want the same thing to happen to us that happen with the Oceana referendum."

Hon. Julius Espat - Deputy Leader, PUP
"This is an opportunity for the people of Belize to see if that law that has been put in place - if it is a worthwhile law. We have already seen where a non-political organization has tried to use it which is Oceana in the referendum, so now we are doing the political part as it pertains to the recall to see if the laws that government put in place are really truly put in place to serve the people or are they are just done as a facade."

And speaking about appearances, the Recall of Elvin Penner is symbolic in nature because those expected to support and participate in it are those constituents who are aggrieved by the immigration scandal.

The PUP is banking on a lot of "if's". If the 1,700 voters sign, then the recall is triggered. If 65% of electorate votes then recall becomes valid. Finally, if Orlando Habet is able to win the bi-election, he will become the new Area Rep for Cayo Northeast, but the UDP will still control the majority seats, and they will maintain control of the Government.

Those if's look challenging in the face of the fact that only 73% - 8 more than what the recall test requires - showed up for the 2012 General election in Cayo Northeast. And that number came out for all the marbles, when both parties were at the maximum output in machineries to mobilize their voters for a new Government.

Hon. Julius Espat - Deputy Leader, PUP
"It is not our role to decide if the people want it; it is the people's decision. We are here to give the people options and we are here to exercise it and we are here to push our part of the story. It is the people at the end of the day that needs to decide."

"If they believe that by Landy going in it comes closer to the ultimate goal which is a change of government then that is where we are going. If the people don't think it's time, then we will respect that. But we as the loyal opposition have to give the options so that people can have choices to make."

Orlando "Landy" Habet - PUP Caretaker, Cayo Northeast
"We have made firstly inform our people who are working on the ground today about all the implications and all the methodology, the protocol behind it and they have to understand and they do because we have already informed them, that this is just the initial process to trigger that mechanism for the recall."

"When the time for the referendum comes out and we need that 65% - they have to be there to own it, they have to bring out the people."

The PUP are confident, and they've given themselves a deadline to present these signatures to trigger the recall.

Orlando "Landy" Habet - PUP Caretaker, Cayo Northeast
"We are conscious that this is just the initial process as I mentioned earlier and the tomorrow we continue. We are giving ourselves at least a week to be able to contact the people who are not available today and tomorrow and we believe we would be able to garner that 30% of the signatures from the voters that are registered in Cayo Northeast."

This evening, 7News spoke to Joseph Mahmud, the PUP Cayo North representative, and the main coordinator of the recall effort. He told us that they have a goal to present 2,100 signatures, and according to him the counting still continues. Mahmud reported to us that so far, the count is at 1,200. He also tells us that the threshold is 1,800, not 1,700 as was noted in our story.