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The Rest of the Political Machinery Involved In the Cayo North By-Election
posted (January 5, 2015)
And so...on this day full of so much news - the biggest news story is still unfolding in Cayo North. That's where right now counting is taking place for the Cayo North by election. There are 13 ballot boxes with about 300 votes each so counting should be finished between 8:30 and 9:00 pm.

And while we await that outcome - to keep the political energy going we go back to Cayo North form some more of the interviews we conducted today. We asked the UDP Ministers about the possibility of their presence actually alienating voters:..

Jules Vasquez
"Isn't there however a risk that when you go and campaign because maybe as Minister of Education, you didn't give my son a scholarship or I had ask for assistance and I didn't get any. These are the things happen in government. You can't please everyone - that when you go or the Deputy Prime Minister goes, some land issue with my family - that you all are actually a disincentive to vote UDP."

Hon. Patrick Faber, Collet
"Well I'll take that from the aspect that I know best - education and we've been very fair with the education resources in terms of its distribution."

Jules Vasquez
"But you what it is about fairness, people want fairness until it comes to me than I want special."

Hon. Patrick Faber, Collet
"The good thing is that we've distributed our resources in such a way that I think people are relatively happy with that."

Hon. Anthony "Boots" Martinez, Port Loyola
"I have to be honest with you, they had a lot of pending land issues in Bullet Tree here and the Deputy Prime Minister have been working here from since Omar's convention and 80% of the land problem - the main problem you had in Bullet Tree was the land issue of which 80% was straighten before even there was a by-election, so we have been engaging in terms of the people of Bullet Tree. We didn't even know this by-election would have been here, but to get the service to the people and to make sure that when election is called Omar Figueroa stand a chance."

Jules Vasquez
"Well he is a new comer. He has no taint on his reputation, but being in government for 7 years now, inevitably you have failed to deliver to a good number of people, or if people feel that you failed - maybe you give them 5 and they wanted 10 services, not money."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Pickstock
"Two things really, I think it's the opposite would have been the case if in fact we did not show solidarity and support. People would have wondered how is it that he is running and we don't have the ministers and others supporting him."

Godfrey Smith
"On our side when we discuss the matter of bringing in people from everywhere, we were very clear to sound the alarm and if you are going to bring people, make sure they are able to fit in and have them zoned off and assign to particular areas of work otherwise yes, you end up with the result that the locals, the people who vote here, and you kind of observe it when you see them coming in. They don't really want to be bothered, they don't want to be pick up from their houses, they come on their own and they are basically, from my observation, oblivious to all the propaganda and all the haranguing and all the banners and posters and noise."

Jules Vasquez
"Isn't it a fact that this low turnout favors the UDP who superior machinery because machinery needs oil?"

Godfrey Smith
"Well, you have to look into this question of superior machinery. If by superior machinery, you are talking about the banners and the posters and the shirts - if that is your definition, then that will draw you to the conclusion you've reach. If our definition of machinery is knowing where the voters are, knowing how to get them out and listening to them when you've campaign to them and knowing that they will do the right thing then, I would have to reach a different conclusion from you in terms of what the status quo suggests."

Jules Vasquez
"Finally, it's widely acknowledge that the PUP is fighting for its life in this election in terms of it's the underdog. The UDP in terms of just muscularity and presence on the ground, the ubiquity of their signage, the large volume of campaigners - they have outmatch the PUP in that regard."

Godfrey Smith
"I don't know about the large volume of campaigners. They are large bodies in shirts - that's what they are. I don't know about campaigners. But the question is based on that?"

Jules Vasquez
"Based on that PUP would seem optically, the underdog and so the underdog is happy for a win while the overdog is disappointed at a small win."

Godfrey Smith
"I think that the pressure is actually on the UDP, after pumping all the money, after all the signage, after all the work and hype - I think the pressure is on them to win this election."

Jules Vasquez
"You know what makes up a government - seats and the PUP stands to lose one, a seat that it had. Now, jump high, jump low, these are the things that make up the government. Is that a concern for you just from a raw number perspective that the PUP could end up losing ground today."

Hon. John Briceno
"Obviously, we want to win every election that we participate and we are here today working hard and visiting people, talking to people, hoping that we can get them out in enough numbers to be able to win the election. We know that we are at a disadvantage. We know that the UDP's candidate has been out there from March campaigning. Unfortunately, in our case, Mr. Harrison had a little over a month to be able to get prepared for an election, so we have all these disadvantages over us. We want to win, of course we do, but we also have to recognize and accept the challenges that are ahead of us in trying to win this election."

Hon. Michael Finnegan
"It doesn't matter what size we will win by. What is important is a victory. Whether you win by one, ten, fifteen, and hundred - a victory is a victory. If you win the election by one vote, then you will be there for another 5 years, so it doesn't really matter."

Jules Vasquez
"But at the same time though, the amount of work, resources, personnel that the UDP puts in, they are supposed to win by at least 500 or 300 and if they don't, it would mean that..."

Hon. Michael Finnegan
"Election doesn't go like that Jules. The resources and the energies that you put in an election is to win the election. A win is a win."

Again, 4063 voters came out - that's 62% of the 6598 registered voters. And those votes are being counted at the Cayo CET compound right now.

Very rough preliminary figures say that UDP Candidate Omar Figueroa has amassed a comfortable lead over the PUP's Richard Harrison and could claim more than 55% of the vote. Again those are very preliminary and unconfirmed figures.





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