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Yesterday, the PUP area representative for Orange Walk East, Marco Tulio Mendez made official what had been rumored a week earlier: he was stepping down as standard bearer because of a herniated disc in his neck.

That creates an immediate and urgent vacancy in Orange Walk East for the PUP where a new standard bearer has to be identified and installed. That new candidate would only have a maximum of two and a half years to go before the next general election. And it's an election where, again, the conventional wisdom would suggest that the PUP is going from a position of advantage – having the area representative - to one of disadvantage – having to find a new candidate.

Today, the party leader discussed the party's prospects going forward:…

Hon. Francis Fonseca - Leader of the Opposition

"I'm obviously disappointed that Dr. Marco Tulio Mendez had to step down. It's not something he wanted to do but he was advised to do by many doctors he saw over the few months. So that is my first concern, his health is my first concern; And i'm concerned about him as a friend and a colleague and that supersedes any of our political interests. Moving forward we have already put in place a team in the northern cacaos who will lead an effort to find the best possible replacement for Dr. Marco Tulio Mendez. That is will be very difficult because he was a very extremely capable representative. Already we've had a number of candidates emerge, so I expect there will be a convention to determine who will be the next standard bearer; And I expect that convention should be concluded no later than the end of January 2015. There's several individual who are capable and interested. You mentioned Dave Burgos he was a former 2 term representative for Orange Walk east from 1998 to 2008. I've heard Jose Carballo, who is the chairman of Orange Walk east, I've heard some people call his name but we've had no formal applications as yet and other names has been called as well."