And, just as all this is coming to a head, so is the UDP's countdown to its first leadership convention in the party's history. Indeed, at the pace things are going at the courthouse in Salt Lake City, Jacob Kingston may not even get to the Belize part of his testimony before Sunday's big dance.
And, all things considered, that favors John Saldivar - who - as you can see from the ads in the news - is driving hard to Sunday.
And, while the media is very much looking forward to the convention at the Civic Center in Belize City, we learned today that, in a first, the UDP will be having a closed convention, meaning the media is NOT going to be allowed inside.
It's a retrograde move, probably out of the George Price playbook, but we checked with multiple UDP officials today, and they said that the media will only be invited in AT THE END, after the ballots have been counted.
That's right, the convention starts at 9:00 with formalities including the installation of a new chairman, resolutions on policy issues, and a keynote address by the outgoing leader Dean Barrow - but only the UDP media, meaning WAVE TV will capture all that. After that, the voting of the 570 delegates starts at 12 noon, and the winner will be known by 3:00 or 3:30.
And that's when the media will be allowed into the Civic.
Of course, it's their party convention, and they make the rules, but the UDP is not a lodge or a private club, it is a mass party, and the decision, taken at Saturday's National Party Council meeting is out of step with political norms in terms of current and past practice. Jules Vasquez dug into the archives to look at the last three conventions:
When the UDP had its convention at the People's Stadium in 2010 - it was an open affair - the media was freely allowed inside.
The competition then was as it is now: Patrick Faber and John Saldivar challenging each other, but on this occasion for the post of Chairman.
We got to see them work the crowd - and to see the chaos of voting. And we got to see the keynote address and even dancing, and the declaration of a winner - Faber by about 300 votes.
And in 2013 in at the Andres Campos Stadium in Corozal again it was an open affair - even an open field On that occasion it was Vega versus Faber and we could see the last minute campaigning.
At the end of that one, Vega was victorious by a large margin - Faber took the loser's seat this time, and got that now famous endorsement from the Prime Minister and Party Leader
February 2013
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"You sir represent the future of the United Democratic Party."
7 years later, now that the future is here - we suspect that the now departing party leader doesn't feel quite the same way.
In 2016, it was not a national convention - so there were no speeches - just voting for a deputy leader. But, again, we we were allowed in and got to see the political feuding as the delegates lined up to vote.
And in this contest, Faber again beat Saldivar - with the support of most of his party.
And Michael Finnegan - who is definitely not supporting him this time.
The record reflects that - even in the most humble venues, the UDP has always embraced conventions open to the media, but not in 2020.
We have been told that the UDP media will provide copies of what happened inside after the convention.
Email
Print