Today at PUP Headquarters, Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca took all questions about the PUP's major loss in yesterday's municipal election. But one of the toughest he had to face was about his failure to deliver a victory for Yolanda Schakron in his own Freetown Division. If you don't quite know about the divisional thing, here's how it works: the Belize City Council is elected from the aggregate outcome of all ten City divisions. The final result is all that matters - the PUP slate led by Yolanda Shackron was soundly defeated. We can't tell you exactly by how much because the elections and boundaries office is still compiling the final figures. But, below the aggregate result are smaller, important numbers which show how each councilor did in each division. For example, the UDP candidates had runaway successes in party strongholds such as Mesopotamia, Queen Square, Port Loyola and Collet. And the PUP candidates had successes in their party's strongholds of Fort George, Freetown, and Lake Independence. But in Freetown there was a caveat: voters did not return Yolanda Schakron as the mayoral candidate. While they did vote for the PUP slate, the UDP's Darrell Bradley polled as the top mayoral candidate in Freetown - which is the PUP party leader's division. We asked him today how he couldn't deliver for his mayoral candidate:..
Jules Vasquez
"Is it a matter of concern to you that in your division you were unable to protect your mayoral candidate Ms. Yolanda Schakron?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Sure, we would have love to do so, especially since Yolanda is such a magnificent woman. But, yes, we are concern. Again, we are satisfied that Freetown is a solid PUP division. We have a lot of independent thinkers in Freetown and I know them very well and I have no doubt they support me. So, I understand that, I am disappointed that they did not give more support to Yolanda. She lost by around 74-75 votes."
Jules Vasquez
"You view it as a personal failure sir?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"I don't view it as a personal failure. Personal disappointment, indeed. I wish I had more time to invest in the area."
And while Fonseca couldn't deliver for Schakron, Cordel Hyde did.
The PUP slate did surprisingly well in Lake Independence. We say surprisingly because it was Hyde's first election since he took a break from politics in 2012. We asked the party leader if his resurgence - one of the very, very few bright spots for the PUP in this election could be accompanied by a promotion in the internal party ranks:..
Jules Vasquez
"You orchestrated his removal as deputy leader of the PUP. Will you bring him back as a deputy leader of the PUP now that he has perform so well?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"That's a matter for us to discuss as a party. Listen, Cordel Hyde is today the standard bearer in the Lake Independence because of Francis Fonseca. I was the one who reached out to Cordel, had many meetings and discussions with him over many months and worked with him, to bring him back into the party and he, himself has made it very clear, that he came back into the People's United Party because he has confidence in my leadership, but I agree with you that he has to be engaged more in the work of the party at many different levels. And I don't believe that, that necessarily means titles in the party, but wants to be engaged in the work of the party and I certainly am open to that and certainly want to encourage that."
Jules Vasquez
"You regret removing him or orchestrating his removal as a deputy leader?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"Listen Jules, that was a decision... I didn't orchestrate anything. That was a decision taken by the national executive of the party, on the basis of circumstances that prevailed at the time."
And we also asked Fonseca about a recording secretly made of former party leader John Briceno when he was putting Fonseca on serious blast. We've been hearing reports confirming the existence of the recording for two weeks - but the PUP has managed to contain it. Reports said it would be released after the municipal election - but it hasn't surfaced yet. We asked Fonseca about it today:..
Jules Vasquez
"Is there a recording and is it of an explosive embarrassing, of you as party leader?"
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition
"I am aware of the recording. The party has discussed the recording at national executive meeting. We have said that this is a matter we will discuss as a party, in house, after the municipal elections. You will understand that it is not a matter we wanted to discuss and deal with before. So, we will discuss it and deal with it in a respectful, brotherly manner in the People's United Party at some point in the very near future. I have a lot of respect for John Briceno and I believe we will work very well together into the future to deliver a victory for the People's United Party."
Briceno declined comment.
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