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Sedi Muses On His 2nd Re-election
posted (November 5, 2015)
And Elrington was more circumspect. He say those media personalities and activists who vilified him - they don't vote:...

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Actually the media doesn't vote and critics on the press don't vote. People who vote are the constituents and I minister to them very diligently. Although I am perhaps the minister who is most out of the country, I spent most time with my people, or one of the minister who spends the most time with the constituents and if you see the kind of work that we have done back there and the kind of benefits that we have for the people you'd be amazed."

Jules Vasquez
"Your opponent say and we have to voice it, your opponent say that you were spending like crazy in the last days and that is why they claimed you won."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"You will know Jules that I am a most frugal person. I don't even like to drive. I prefer to walk. I don't have a cell phone. I don't go to restaurants to eat. No, actually we get some funds through the government program and I spend all of it and then I had about 4 people who gave me contributions for this election."

Jules Vasquez
"You realize your opponent and I can't give you too much voice because you've won, but your opponent says that you buy the election. That's what they say about you Minister Elrington."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"But they have to say something. But everybody knows that I don't have the money that they were able to scurrile away."

And so now that he's won a third term, Elringotn is likely to have a senior post in the Cabinet. Might that mean foreign affairs again? We asked him:...

Jules Vasquez
"Do you expect that you will be returned to be attorney general and minister of foreign affairs?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"I make no assumptions about things like that. Whatever the Prime Minister ask me to do I will do. But I have no particular preference. Well let me not say that I don't have a particular preference. If I had a preference and I could choose myself, perhaps would do ministry of human services or maybe education. Because there you can do so..."

Jules Vasquez
"So you are not long for foreign affairs as many people think?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Absolutely not. I will repeat it. I have never ever ask the Prime Minister to assign any portfolio for me. I will never do that. That must be his free and unfettered decision. I will do whatever he asked me to do and I will do it to the best of my ability. But I don't think I am a one cylinder person. I am versatile. Whatever he gives me I can do."


Will Sedi Return After This Term In Office

And so now that he has won three terms, we asked Elrington if he has any plans on retiring like some of the elder statesmen of the UDP. Here's what he said:...

Jules Vasquez
"Will you continue in politics or are you thinking like Mr. Finnegan, Mr. Martinez, and Mr. Dean Barrow?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"I think it will be good for us to start thinking of a successor. I've been in politics running since 1993. I've finish a good career in private sector and a number of very good young people are coming up and I really think that it is right that they be given a chance. I do not rule out not running for a 4th term."

Jules Vasquez
"Do you rule it out?"

Hon. Micheal Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"Why you want I retire?"

Jules Vasquez
"Would you advise Mr. Elrington to retire now while he is a ahead?"

Hon. Micheal Finnegan
"Mr. Elrington will always be ahead. There is a small uninformed people, they were trying to get him but they failed."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"If you have the blind leading the blind, you are going to fall into the ditch and if you have the tail leading the head, the same thing is going to happen."

Hon. Micheal Finnegan
"Belize, if you don't have ditch, you have canals."

And that was the mood at today's press conference, where the UDP were pleased as peach that they had won a third term.



"Clear The Land" Weathered The Public Battering


And one politician whom we didn't ask about retirement is Edmond Castro. Despite also being battered in the press, he won easily over Major Lloyd Jones. His margin went down from 535 votes in the last election to 400 this time. How does he remain popular in the face of huge negative campaigns against him? He told us today:..

And which ministry would Castro want? We asked him..



The New Political Landscape

Earlier on we gave you the precise results for Cayo but how about the entire country? Well, we have the bigger picture for you now. We start off in the North with Corozal Bay: the UDP's Pablo Marin beat out the PUP's Gregorio "Papas" Garcia by 146 votes - almost identical to the 148 votes he beat him by in 2012.

In Corozal North UDP Hugo Patt won that seat by 493 votes, better than the 199 he won by in 2012. Moving on to Corozal South East the PUP's Florencio Marin Jr. beat Evan Cowo by 164 votes. In 2012, he won by 412 votes. In Corozal South West UDP's Dr. Angel Campos upset the PUP's Ramiro Ramirez by a margin of 219 votes.

In Orange Walk Central the PUP's Johnny Briceno got only 50.5% of the vote, but beat out his UDP opponent by over 600 votes. Notably the BPP had their best showing in this area where former UDP Mayor Phillip De la Fuente got 493 votes.

Looking at Orange Walk North UDP power house Gaspar "Gapi" Vega beat Ramon "Munchi" Cerventes by 489 votes. In Orange Walk South PUP incumbent Jose Mai won by only 62 votes. In Orange Walk East, newcomer for the UDP Elodio Aragon won easily by 547 votes.

We already told you about Belize Rural where UDP's Edmond Castro won by 400 votes in North, and Beverly Castillo won by 58 votes in Central. In Rural South, the UDP's Manuel Junior Heredia won by 1132 votes.

In Belize City, Francis Fonseca won by his largest margin ever, 418 votes. In Caribbean Shores, we already told you that Kareem Musa won by 56 votes. In Fort George, Said Musa won by over 700 votes. And In Lake Independence, the PUP had their biggest win, where Cordel Hyde blew out Mark King, besting him by one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine votes. HYDE ALSO HAD THE LARGEST PERCENTAGE OF THE VOTE FOR THE PUP with 71% of the vote.

That's close to Dean Barrow who topped the polls countrywide in this election earning 78% of the votes in Queen Square. Today, he said he did that, while not even going into his division:...

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I didn't win the election in Queen Square. I didn't win the last election in Queen Square. Sister Barrow did that. It's not anything to be proud or to boast about, but I did not visit a single home, did not get in touch with a single voter. I knew that they understood my personal position and circumstances and they had sister B and they knew that when they had Sister B, it was just like they had me. In fact it was better than if they had me, because nothing is wrong her back."

Here are a quick look at the other results - and in tomorrow's newscast we'll have a full statistical breakdown.

So in the end there are 19 UDP representatives, and 11 PUP's with one undecided.





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