P.u.p. Reels From Devastating Loss

While the U.D.P. celebrates, for the People’s United Party, it has been a devastating loss.  At a press conference at Independence Hall this afternoon by the P.U.P., the media brief was devoid of the traditional fanfare that has come to be expected at the party’s headquarters on Queen Street. Party leader Francis Fonseca appeared alone and said that a thorough post mortem will be conducted to determine where the strengths and weaknesses are going forward.  The massive loss at the polls in Cayo North, despite the pretty short campaign afforded to Richard Harrison, has left many in the party disheartened.  Nonetheless, Fonseca urges supporters of the P.U.P. to keep moving forward and continue with preparations for the upcoming municipal elections.

Francis Fonseca, Party Leader, P.U.P.

Francis Fonseca

“We have to keep in mind it’s a bye-election which was forced, as I said, by a sudden resignation.  So I think, as some of you have characterized it, we were in a sense caught off guard.  I think everyone regarded us as underdogs going into this bye-election even though we had held the seat before.  Figueroa was there for I think a year or almost year and our candidate had a little over a month or. so or even not a month I believe.  So I think there are many factors as I said but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  I think, as I said, the U.D.P. won a clear, decisive victory yesterday.  I think the people have commented about the turnout.  I think the turnout was fair, very reasonable turnout and there are no excuses.  We have to now evaluate ourselves, look at everything that took place in Cayo North, look at ourselves as a party and determine what went wrong in Cayo North.  What can we do to fix those problems that arose in Cayo North, make sure that they are not existing in other areas of the party and we have to look at everything and as the leader of the People’s United Party I take ownership and full responsibility for the loss and I have to look at myself.  What can I do better?  Should I be doing more?  How can we strengthen whatever units and arms of the party we need to strengthen to make the P.U.P. more effective?  What are we doing in terms of our message as a party, is the message getting across to the people of Belize, is it getting across to the people of Cayo North?  If we don’t have enough resources how can we ensure that we have adequate resources to fight these battles?  It’s clear that resources are increasingly significant, that’s not no news to any of you.”