And, just in we have our interview with the Prime Minister which was conducted at 6:15 pm in Belmopan. The Prime Minister used his statement to outline the reasons for calling the earliest election in Belize's history. He spoke about a new mandate to embark on a new programme of development. But today the press probed him for the deeper reasons behind the snap election. We caught him at an event to honour Phillip Godson in Belmopan this evening - and here's the lively exchange with the media.
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, why call elections early? Its 3 years and 8 months."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well I said that the 4 year point is the marker and so since that was my calculus, we are not too early, in terms of that yardstick. This particular juncture though, seems to me to be right. We've had a string of elections already in this current year. Everybody knew that the election was coming sooner rather than later. It struck me that let's get it over and done with, so that whoever wins can then concentrate fully on the business of governance, on the business of development, on the business of improving people's lives. If the longer I had waited, the more difficult it would have been to continue to focus on issues of governance - all important issues of governance. I hate to put it like this, but to some extent, the fact that this was an election season, was a distraction and if we had prolong it, if we had extended it, a great deal beyond today's date, it would have meant that that distraction would have been compounded."
Daniel Ortiz
"Is it also an issue of your striking when the Opposition party seems to be at its weakest?"
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't know that I would make that sort of a judgement that the Opposition party is at its weakest. I am sure that I heard the Leader of the Opposition say a week or two ago, that, he acknowledges that it is the right of the Prime Minister to call the elections at any time and that he and his party are going to be ready. So, that really doesn't have a great deal to do with the timing."
Daniel Ortiz
"When in 1993, when they called elections early, it spelled disaster for them. Is that a concern on your mind that you may also be walking into that same trap?"
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Not at all. Otherwise I wouldn't called the elections so early. Remember that, the circumstances that were present that occurred when the People's United Party went so early, can hardly be repeated."
The November 4th. 2015 Election will be three years, 7 months and 28 days after the March 7, 2012 election. It is, as we noted, the earliest election ever - beating out the PUP's previous 1993 record by 58 days. The then George Price Government called elections on June 30, 1993, which was 3 years 9 months and 26 days after the September 1989 election. The PUP famously went unto to narrowly lose that election - even though they won the popular vote.
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