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The Battle For The Lake
posted (November 2, 2015)

In our last segment we showed you the candidates in Cayo North – which was not Cayo northeast – as we had said. But there's no mistaking the might Lake Independence. With over six thousand voters, it's the biggest in the city – and this time it's a battleground. Three time PUP representative Cordel Hyde is going up against the current area rep. Mark King – the first UDP to hold the seat since 1993.

King is none too shy about self promotion, but is the work that he has done enough to swing support in his favour against Hyde, who's never lost an election? On Wednesday we'll find out. But right now, both candidates are preparing themselves for the showdown. A few weeks ago, King invited us along on the campaign trails, and tonight, we've put together that story, comparing and contrasting both candidates. Daniel Ortiz reports:

A few weeks ago, Lake-I Incumbent Mark King invited us along on the campaign trails, where he was continuing his walk through the division, greeting the voters asking for their support once again.

That's the first main difference we noticed between him and his political opponent who told us that he prefers to keep campaigning to on personal level. He made a similar point last night, as well as to further distinguishes himself from King.

Cordel Hyde - PUP Candidate, Lake Independence

"I dah wah old school politician. I no feel like the lot of profiling and the lot of silly talking will make anything happen you know. I believe in one on one contact. I believe in beat the pavement and go to people's houses and talk to them on their level. I believe in see how the people the live so you can understand what a go an."

"When my people in Lake have blackout, I got blackout. When my people at lake have no water, I no got no water. When my people them at lake got bad street, I got bad street."

King makes it a point to go house to house as well, but he makes no apologies for his flamboyant campaign tactics. He relies on whatever political points the voters think he deserves for whatever program or effort he publicizes.

Mark King - UDP Incumbent, Lake Independence

"In regards to the elections, you know we're cramping up our machinery, we're starting to oil. As you can see we have the area deck out already and we the head down the campaign trail every single day for the last 3 or 4 months. I no just have to campaign in Lake I, we have been walking way before the election. As you know there was a sentiment in the area that elections was coming around."

King is asking to be assessed on his performance him on the time he's been in office, with the shorter time-frame than most other elected politicians

Mark King - UDP Incumbent, Lake Independence

"We term get cut short, we only had 3 years to deliver. For me, I have always said judgement on 3 years in Lake I compared to the PUP 15 years in Lake I. We've been delivering our programmes every single year people get their landfill, people go on pantry, streets in Lake I get fixed so I don't feel like the services have not been delivered. I feel like if I got some more time, I would have delivered a lot more."

But, everyone is acutely aware that the battle which ought to have happened in March 2012 - had Cordel Hyde not stepped down - will now take place in 2 days.

Daniel Ortiz

"We recall that in that particular election you beat Martin Galvez by a small margin as compared to the Independent candidate. Those votes which went to the Independent candidate could be classified as a vote against the government, a vote against you. Now you're dealing with the man who use to run this area before you. Are you concerned that he will get any kind of overwhelming support in his return?"

Mark King - UDP Incumbent, Lake Independence

"No, No, I recall the opponent numbers being way higher as a matter of fact half way higher, 50% higher than it was now which shows the margins had dipped significantly. In terms of that independent candidate I think that those people voted Independent because they never wanted the opposition. They were in problems and still are. So at the end of the day I don't see how that plays out into our scenario. As a matter of fact I got in contact with those people. We have our skill on the ground, we have our information and most of those people as far as I know will support us."

"What I will say to Lake I people is judge me by the 3 years that I have served your community compared to that 15 that the PUP served you and when they make their decisions, we will all just have to be happy with that because the vote is now for Lake I. It's no longer for me or the PUP. So I ask the people to give us that support and let me continue the work that I'm doing and to recognize that as a junior minister I had only had 3 years to work for them in Lake I."

In the 2008 Elections, when the PUP was voted out of office, Cordel Hyde defeated Vandley Jenkins by 379 votes. In the 2012 Elections, when Hyde did not run, Mark King won by 172 votes over PUP's Martin Galvez.

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