7 News Belize

Is The Opposition To Blame For UDP’s Electoral Successes?
posted (July 9, 2015)
And so, regardless of outcome, Fonseca gets to hang in there - but the outcome - as we said at the top is telling. It sees the PUP losing major ground in terms of popular support in that seat in just three years - at a time when the UDP, in its eighth year of a second term should be the one losing popularity. But it's the other way around - and Frank Mena has been vaulted into the House of Representatives with a large mandate - breaking the PUP's lock on the south. The bottom line is that the opposition now has one less seat in their House minority - and it's the second seat the party is losing since the start of the year. So, what's the problem? What's causing the popularity pendulum to swing in favour of the government - when it should be swinging against it? That's what we asked the opposition leader today:..

Jules Vasquez
"What we are seeing is that Frank "Pawpa" Mena is almost at 60% in a division that never goes over 60%. You have never seen those numbers yourself. Even very popular representatives like Said Musa in the upper 50s. So, that puts Frank "Pawpa" Mena, like Omar Figueroa in a very exclusive club. Are you all properly assessing the totality of the significant lost..."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of The Opposition
"Of course we will do a full and proper assessment of the results Jules, without a doubt. What we have been saying - nobody is saying we are encouraged by the results in terms of the numbers. What we are saying is we are encourage by the show of unity in our party - the fighting spirit. That is where it begins. That is where you begin to turn around the numbers. It has to begin with that. It has to begin with us understanding and appreciating that if we fight together, if we stand together - that is how we turn these elections around. So that is what is encouraging to us."

Jules Vasquez
"But isn't that listening to the noise in the market instead of checking the change?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"No, no, no. Not for us. Not for us at all."

Jules Vasquez
"That is the noise in the market, sir. All of the tremendous PUP alacrity and muscularity that showed yesterday is what is called the noise in the market. The poll result is called checking your change."

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"No man, you are putting it in the context of an election Jules, you are not assessing it. If you are going to properly assess it, you have to properly assess it in the context in which it occurred. Which is that you also had a candidate Mr. Sabal who was there for 3 weeks."

Jules Vasquez
"The candidate in this case was not the problem. Everyone speaks of his in spectacular glowing terms and rightly so probably. Second, you said resources. You said it 7 minutes ago that there were more resources. However then the outcome is still the same. It's a blowout. It's a significant defeat. So then is the problem the leadership of the party?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"The problem is that we have a very good candidate who did not have the proper time to mount a full campaign in Dangriga and if he had that opportunity to campaign for months, he would have won those elections. I am absolutely confident of that and in that context we are encouraged by the way our party performed."

Jules Vasquez
"That's an incredible statement sir. You all lost 13% points. That one quarter of your support. You had 54% and you are now down to 41%. That's a quarter of the support of the PUP in just 3 years ago is now gone. How can that be an encouragement?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"We are absolutely encouraged by the fact, as I said that we have a very good candidate. We believe that the spirit of unity and organization is back."

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