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PUP Gets Blown Out In Municipals, Hon. Fonseca Says He Won’t Resign
posted (March 5, 2015)
62 seats to 5. That's how bad the UDP beat the PUP in yesterday's municipal elections. The UDP now fully controls eight of the country's nine town and city councils - before the election it only controlled six.

So, in its eighth year in Government, the UDP has confounded historical election trends and defied modern precedent, by actually gaining ground on the opposition PUP.

Before the election, the PUP held 23 seats and controlled three town councils; tonight it holds just five seats in a single town council, Orange Walk - where the margins were razor thin.

The defeat is epic - and this afternoon at Party Headquarters in Belize City, the Party had a meeting to discuss the loss. It invited the press into an Independence Hall crowded with supporters for a one hour briefing. Party Leader Francis Fonseca congratulated the UDP:...

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"I want to congratulate the United Democratic Party and all the elected mayors and councilors across the country. The people have spoken. The People's United Party accepts the decision of the people in their choice of stewards for their municipalities for the period 2015 - 2018. The PUP is moving quickly within the coming week, to comprehensively analyze the elections results, engaged in an open and frank self-examination, to regroup, unify and ready ourselves on every front for the likelihood of early general elections and to develop and implement without delay a plan for campaign financing."

Will there indeed be an early election? And will the party turn to Lord Ashcroft to address its campaign financing woes. We'll have the answers to those questions shortly - but first to the burning questions: will party leader Francis Fonseca be forced to resign because of this historic loss? That's what Jules Vasquez asked him today:..

Jules Vasquez
"In the wake of the quite enormous defeat that the PUP suffered, have you contemplated resignation?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"No sir. No.

Crowd chanting
"No"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Let me answer the question please. I apologize Jules. I think it's an absolutely fair, a valid, legitimate question. In the wake of any election defeat and certainly this was a very decisive defeat, a very decisive victory for the United Democratic Party, with potentially two years to come before a general election. I think everybody has to take a look at themselves and it starts with the leader. The leader has to look in the mirror. The leader has to self-examine, so I think that's an absolutely legitimate question, but I have given no thought to resignation."

Jules Vasquez
"It would suggest that it's more than just money. That it might be intangible, that maybe the people or the voters aren't convinced that the opposition as it is presently led or constructive, is viable enough to earn their vote."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"That's a fair question Jules and we have to examine all of that; what are we doing wrong; what are we doing right; Are we getting our message across?; are we delivering it properly? As I said earlier: what am I doing as a leader; what am I not doing? But I believe more than anything else what we need in our party today is a clear sense of purpose and unity among ourselves."

And while Fonseca spoke in platitudes about unity - really, the PUP lost because it had very little money to spread around. Say what you want about how money distorts democracy, but politics is a money game - and if you don't believe just examine how many cars, t-shirts, signs and campaign workers are in motion on an election day. Fonseca admits the PUP were significantly outmatched in terms of finance, but blamed it on Petrocaribe:...

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"We went into this elections with our eyes wide open. We understood that there was a huge imbalance, in terms of resources. We have consistently said, and I have consistently said that I believe that the line between the government treasury and the UDP coffers, have virtually disappeared. But we can't cry over it. There is no time for wining about that issue. We have to get up and fight."

Jules Vasquez
"And while I understand the PUP continues to harp on the wrongful use of public funds in campaigning."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Well I went out of my way to say I wasn't harping on it earlier."

Jules Vasquez
"Whatever. The fact is that you mentioned it and you said that you should not wine over it. However, it's a claim that is unsupported by fact, because the financial secretary, stands up on every occasion and says that the funds are properly spent - well accounted. Obviously you may have difference about the public projects..."

Crowd chanting

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Please, let's respect the journalists who are here."

Jules Vasquez
"I am saying, are you creating a voting on for public...."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"The government is abusing those funds. That is our view. The financial secretary, who represents the government, can say what he wants to say, but we have our right, a right to our view of the matter and our opinion."

Jules Vasquez
"But he has facts and you have opinion. That's my point."

But, short of Petrocaribe bucks, where will the PUP turn for campaign financing? The business owners who throw hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaigns want to sponsor a winner - and, right now, the PUP surely doesn't look like that. So then, would Lord Ashcroft finance the PUP? He told us last week that he believes in a thriving opposition, and would fund a party that is trying to put its case to the public. Does the PUP qualify? That's what we asked Fonseca today:

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"We have to determine ways of putting in place a very comprehensive campaign financing program for our party. That is the reality. We need more money than we have now, to adequately and properly fight these elections."

Jules Vasquez
"Would the party be prepared to accept campaign financing from Mr. Ashcroft and on what terms would you make such an agreement?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"That's a hypothetical that I do not wish to engage in at all Jules. I can say this to you that I have received no such offer from Mr. Ashcroft and there are no terms under which we accept monies as a party. I have made that very clear. We do not do so on any terms. There are no terms."

But, going back now to the election result - as we said - it defies all historical trends - which do not favor incumbents. Invariably, the longer a party is in government the more unpopular it becomes - and the more votes it loses. We saw that in 2012 when the UDP - in its fourth year in government - almost lost the general elections, and lost significant ground in the municipals. But, with the blowout in Cayo North in January, followed by this devastating defeat of the PUP - the UDP is turning conventional logic on its head, and gaining ground in elections it should be losing. That may be more of a reflection on the mediocrity of the PUP than it is a reflection of excellence in the UDP.

We asked the opposition leader today - how come the pendulum of political fortune is swinging in the wrong direction - and is it because of him:

Jules Vasquez
"What is strange about this is that the pendulum with Cayo North and now down south seems to be swinging in the opposite direction. It seems to be swinging in favor of the incumbent, which has never happened in our modern history - post Independence. Is this something that concerns you and are you aware of (it's a symptom) what is the cause and might you be the cause?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Obviously, it's a matter of concern Jules. That what I said earlier. I said that we in the People's United Party have to self-examine, we have to, in a comprehensive way analyze the results. Obviously, we are very disappointed with the results. We have to analyze it, but I am not going to stand here today and say that we have the answers to those questions. I think we have to take some time, look at it as a party - all of us sitting together around the table, listen to our candidates, bring them in - our mayoral candidates, our councilors and have a very thorough, open, frank, honest discussion."

Jules Vasquez
"At the last press conference, after the poor results in Cayo North, you express some conservative confidence about this election, but express certainty about the general election. Are you still as confident that if the general elections were to be held, that the PUP would win?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Obviously Jules, the results of this election, gives you pause. You would be foolish not to pause after such results. So, we have to reflect on it. Obviously, my confidence is not where it was, because of the results of the elections yesterday. But once we analyze it, once we discussed it, once we have a thorough open, frank discussion in the party, then we would be in a better position to say where we stand as a party going into the next general elections."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, you said a full assessment would be done even on yourself, but would an assessment also be made on your candidates who failed to perform and indeed, standard bearers, elected representatives, they can't be challenged, due to a resolution of the party, including yourself and so shouldn't some of these people - we think of Mr. Ramos in Dangriga, we think of Mr. Espat in Toledo East - these persons who are elected representatives, who immune from challenge, in view of what happened in the elections - should they now opened to challenge?"

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"No. I don't think so. Listen, we have to look at it. This is no time for any searching for blood and finding blood. I think we have done a lot of work in these areas, so we understand some of the dynamics and as I said, out of this discussion, out of our analysis, will come a better understanding of where we have to go and the things that we have to fix. But I know all of these individuals. I worked very closely with them. They are all in my view, deeply committed people. This is not about attacking any individual. It is about approaching a problem as a unified party and finding a solution to those problems. I don't want us to get ahead of ourselves. I don't want us to be talking about looking for blame and looking for blood. Let's examine everything and at the end of the day, as I keep saying, everything will be on the table. If there is an open, frank discussion - if we sit together and people are open and frank with each other and we say listen, this is a problem with you Party Leader, this is a deficiency, a weakness we see in you - we have that type of discussion all the time by the way and we try to fix it."

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