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Mass Parties Throw Big Rallies
posted (November 2, 2015)

This weekend was the last before the Wednesday's General Elections, and the two mass parties used the opportunity to hold their biggest political rallies

Now, rallies are a heat check to see what kind of support that the mass parties can expect for the elections, and they also double as feel-good events to energize the base.

We have coverage of 3 of the 4 rallies held this weekend, but we start with the PUP Rally in Belize City from last night. Here's what the 12 standard bearers for the Belize District had to say out at the Pound Yard Bridge:

Paul Thompson - PUP Candidate, Albert Division

"In this campaign the PUP has already won the argument; people over concrete. I'll say that again, people over concrete."

Dorla Vaughn- PUP Candidate, Mesopotamia

"When I look around I see only pain and suffering of my people. Hearing the cried of mothers, fathers, daughters and sons who have lost their loved ones."

Major Lloyd Jones - PUP Candidate, Belize Rural North

"We got the dread on the run."

Kareem Musa - PUP Candidate, Caribbean Shores

"That power will be stripped from them. The same people that vote them there is the same people that are going to take them out."

Yasmin Shoman – PUP Candidate, Collet

"Francis, Francis, Francis, Francis, Francis! Sounds good no true? But hear what sounds better, Prime Minister Francis Fonseca. I like it, I like it."

Gilroy Usher Sr. - PUP Candidate, Port Loyola

"We're moving forward, there will be a change in Port Loyola. No shoes, no boots, we'll stop it because the people, the people of Port Loyola are tired of suffering after almost a decade."

Dr. Francis Smith - PUP Candidate, Pickstock

"We feel your pain, we know what you're going through and it's payback. We have Pickstock on lockdown."

Anthony Sylvester - PUP Candidate, Queen Square

"I'm here to tell you that the winds of change are also blowing in Queen Square. The people of Queen Square are tired and fed up. After 31 years of showing Dean Barrow love, they have not had that reciprocated."

Cordel Hyde - PUP Candidate, Lake Independence

"Unno could handle 5 more years of this?"

Crowd

"No!"

Cordel Hyde - PUP Candidate, Lake Independence

"Unno could handle 5 more years of Dean Barrow and the UDP?"

Crowd

"No!"

Dolores Balderamos Garcia - Deputy Party Leader, PUP

"I feel like the People's United Party is going back to Belmopan."

Said Musa - PUP Candidate, Fort George

"They are going down my friends, on Wednesday November the 4th, the UDP is going down."

Francis Fonseca - Party Leader, PUP

"Very important election; very important election. In my view the most important election since Belize's Independence."

Our estimate put the crowd between 2,000 and 3,000 – the PUP says it is three times that.

The UDP went north this yesterday starting with a rally at the Andres Campos Civic Centre in Corozal Town, where political operators estimate just that around 2,500 people showed up to see the Prime Minister and the Corozal standard bearers. Here's what the Prime Minister had to say about the possibilities of winning a third time in office back to back:

Dean Barrow - Party Leader, UDP

"They say one good term deserves another and two good terms deserve a third. And that is why next Wednesday, history will record that the United Democratic Party will become the first back to back to back government. So that when the annals of this country are written that is a feat that will stand by itself. That will be the most outstanding political accomplishment ever in our beloved Belize."

A few hours later, the Prime Minister went to Liberty Avenue in the Orange Walk East Constituency. That's where he met up with supporters and the 4 UDP Standard Bearers for the Orange Walk District. Here's a short excerpt of their comments:

Gaspar Vega - Deputy Party Leader, UDP

"This United Democratic Party government, under the leadership of the right Honourable Dean Oliver Barrow is the government that has done miracles in this country."

Elodio Aragon Jr. - UDP Candidate, Orange Walk East

"This decision on March 4th is for leadership, it's for leadership and it is for transformation and development for our people of Orange Walk East."

Dean Barrow - Party Leader, UDP

"You wa go from Marco Tulio Mendez to Jose Carballo?"

Crowd

"No!"

Dean Barrow - Party Leader, UDP

"That's it right there you know, that's it right there. Having seen what Elodio Aragon has done. Having seen what Elodio Aragon Jr. can do. Having had my commitment to you tonight that I will give him all the resources required to physically transform Orange Walk East and to improve the quality of life for every single member, every single resident; man, woman, child, everybody."

Again UDP political operators boast that about 7,000 persons showed up. Tomorrow we'll tell you about the Belize District Rally that the UDP is right now having in front of its headquarters on Youth For the Future Drive. We'll have coverage of that in tomorrow's newscast.

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