Dean Barrow
The overwhelming presence of elected officials, including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the P.U.P., as well as political aspirants from both major parties in Cayo North today is a tour de force of support for Harrison and Figueroa. And as we said, while a win for either of the two organizations won’t tip the scale enough to affect the existing composition of parliament, the outcome will be used as a gauge going into the 2015 municipal elections. That being said, Prime Minister Dean Barrow was also on the ground today where he predicted that the voter turnout would exceed fifty percent of all registered voters in that constituency. His forecast is based on wrangling within the opposition party.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I am certain that we will in fact cross the fifty percent threshold but even if the turnout is not what ideally I would like it to be one would have to look at the reasons for that. It takes two to tangle. A low turnout will mean that while the U.D.P. got out its supporters, the P.U.P. didn’t get out its supporters and to some extent that’s perfectly understandable. Their area rep, the person who held on to the seat resigned as a result of publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership of his party. He is sitting out this election, it is not as though he resigned but said, “I will still try to help my successor.” No, he is not lifting a finger to assist his party or his former party. A number of P.U.P.s who would have been loyal to him personally clearly are also sitting out the elections so an exceptionally low turnout would be, in my mind, principally attributable to that, that the P.U.P.s have not come out. With our machinery, with our effort our people are coming out and we would consider that as something to be, not just satisfied with, but to be absolutely happy about.”
Reporter
“Now you’ve been here on the ground, talk to me in terms of what the reception has been like from the people out west in terms of your presence here in Cayo.”
Dean Barrow
“Well, I always say that in terms of my own party, my own supporters I enjoy wonderful support. Clearly for a politician ultimately you need to have the support, not just of your own party but of the fence-sitters, of the swing voters. Accepting that, conceding that though it’s a great feeling when you know that your own party is absolutely rock solid, one hundred percent behind you and that manifests itself on the day. When I come out to the polling station I am greeted with a chorus of hoorahs almost by my own supporters. That, you feed off that sort of energy. It gives you great satisfaction and I have always been very pleased that that is the position in terms of myself and the United Democratic Party. The level of support, the level of commitment is up quite a few notches for this reason: the U.D.P. supporters are highly motivated precisely because they see what their party and their government is doing. They can point to the infrastructural development, they can point to the quality of life improvements and so they are motivated to get out there and to fight especially hard for their partying each municipality.”
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