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Eric Chang made history on Sunday when he became the first Taiwanese born Belizean to win a nomination from a major party. But the 29 year old didn’t just win the nomination on the UDP’s municipal ticket in Belize City, Chang came in second with 2970 votes. That’s 9 votes behind the top finisher – incumbent Wayne Usher. In fact, our political sources say he would have topped the polls if a pact between the Michael camp and him hadn’t fallen apart at 3:00 in the afternoon. After that, pro-Michael voters were told not to vote for Chang. But even missing that 9 votes, this political newcomer made a small bit of history and he did it convincingly. It is a big victory for the young businessman who came to Belize in 1993 when he was 14. Bow he is a politician on a slate that looks to be a shoo in at municipal elections in March of next year. He discussed his victory with Keith Swift this afternoon.

Eric Chang, UDP City Council Candidate
“I feel great. I have to say I am grateful for the people, whosever came out for me, and I thank all of them. As a Chinese-Taiwanese-Belizean it feels great. It is a victory for all of we because it is a big step we made in terms of Belizeans not looking at the race anymore, they are looking at the ability and the possibility down the road for everybody. It is a great country.”

Keith Swift,
Were you surprised that you came in at the top?

Eric Chang,
“I felt great. I never expected the support, I really got it from everybody but it is great. All the hard work paid off. I entered the race because I bring a different perspective for the people and I believe I can do a great job.”

Keith Swift,
Being that you made history, what does that feel like?

Eric Chang,
“It feels great but like I said, we made history because I am the first Chinese-Taiwanese-Belizean, as you want to call it, who got elected in a UDP convention but I would say this is a victory for all the Belizeans.”

Keith Swift,
What has been the reaction of people when they found out you were running?

Eric Chang,
“I had all kinds of reaction, mostly positive. You know in this country some people don’t like Chinese but some of them love Chinese so it’s good. The numbers can tell.”

Chang noted that a fair number of Chinese-Belizeans left the City Center on Sunday without voting. Apparently the lines were long and many left frustrated or put off by the huge crowds. During the counting, vote tabulators remarked to us that many ballots had only two boxes marked: Chang and Moya. That wasn’t the deal because Chang was supposed to support Michael, but Chang’s camp says that’s how it went down because his Chinese supporters were intimidated by the scale of the event and just went with the recognizable name.