And while his passing is mourned, the political gamesmanship begins in the background. A by - election must be held to replace Espat within 90 days or possibly sooner. That will be a divisional election in Toledo East - but his party will also have to have a convention - because there are at least two and possibly three aspirants for his seat. That includes Espat's son, Melhelm, and the Prime Minister's CEO, Osmond Martinez who some say - launched a premature campaign some weeks ago.
Last week on Sunup, the Prime Minister spoke kindly of Espat - but alluded to an exit from electoral politics:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I have great respect for Mike Espat. Honorable Mike Espat has been, before me, I have served more years than him because I have not lost elections but he was first elected in 1989 and he has served with distinction. He served when Toledo was really the forgotten district, bad roads, no electricity, no water, no nothing and he constantly was fighting and fighting and fighting and advocating to bring betterment to the entire district and I have to give him credit for that. I think though that I recognize that and I met with him yesterday to talk about that very same thing and to say, Mike, we know the work you have done and we're very grateful but now we need to find out what you plan to do. unfortunately, now he's of age, he had a bad accident when we were in government and he was in a coma for about a month in Miami, he almost lost his life. So for him to be able to come back is incredible, that's why they call him iron Mike. But he has not been doing well of late and so we're trying to find out from him what is his plan. But we have to treat him with great respect and dignity and we plan to do that as to what will be his plan in the near future."
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