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The PUP has just come off a devastating loss at the polls – made more so by the fact that the last three defeats have all been massive. And so it’s time for soul searching in the grand old party – a search which extends right down to the new leader. Today we got his impressions and those of his deputy about what needs be done to move forward.

Hon. Johnny Briceno, PUP Leader
“We knew that after such a crushing defeat that we had last year and the whole issue of change of leadership that the party is still going through some of those, the rebuilding process. We are disappointed, of course we would have hoped we could do better but it is something that should have been expected from inside when we looked at what was taking place in all the different areas. We just need to continue to refocus, re-energize, re-organize the party and I am confident that in the next three years it is going to be a totally different ball game.”

Hon. Mark Espat, PUP Deputy Leader
“The results are indeed disappointing. I think that the results will impel us really to a full scale review of the party’s approach, of our strategies. I think everything is on the table and so I think that in the coming months we will see that we have to take these results, the third consecutive defeat of the PUP in national polls into account.”

Jules Vasquez,
Is the PUP at a cross roads, specifically is the leadership of the party one of those things that are on the table for being under review?

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Well I don’t think there is anything that can be taken off the table at this time. All strategies, all programs, all structures must be on the table for review.”

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“I believe that everybody is going to make assessments by themselves and as a group and they will feel and they will come to the general conclusion that the only way we can continue to win general elections is if all of us unite as one party.”

Jules Vasquez,
Do all the PUPs have to unite behind John Briceno as leader, are you convinced that the majority of those in the executive, of those at the delegate level believe that you are the best person to lead this party?

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“I believe that the majority of the people in the executive and certainly at the national level believe that I am the best leader that they have at this time and that under my leadership all of us working together, that we can make things happen, we can turn things around and that is what I am going to be continuing to drive home to everybody, that is especially to some of what you call the movers and the shakers that they could take care of themselves but there are thousands upon thousands of party supporters out there that are suffering whenever there is a UDP central government and we need to be able to listen to them, listen to their cries, and to try to find a way how we can help them. The way we can help them is by winning elections.”

Jules Vasquez,
Sir you failed to win in Orange Walk. I knew that was viewed certainly personally for you as an important mission. You look at it statistically and you say well Orange Walk Central is more than half the town and Orange Walk East, the UDP representative closed his office, he was dormant, he wasn’t at the rally on Sunday, he was apparently not playing with the team. How is it that you still lost Orange Walk after concentrating so much energy on it?

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“Let me answer it this way: first of all we had no seats in Orange Walk Town. We won three and of those three that came in, they were in the top five. Rosalo Arana just came six votes from topping the polls in Orange Walk Town. Kevin Bernard and Carballo, they were, I think Carballo was third and Kevin was probably fifth. We lost our fourth candidate by 22 votes. Our mayoral candidate lost by less than 2% of the votes. So I don’t know how you can classify that in your words. But for us in Orange Walk, it was a win for us. I certainly do not agree with the way you have expressed that. We believe that we did well.”

Jules Vasquez,
But you can’t say that you’ve won.

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“But we did win three seats.”

Jules Vasquez,
It is a minority.

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“But we had zero. We have three.”