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CJ Says UDP Won in SP
posted (July 20, 2018)
The PUP failed to convince Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin that he should set aside the March 7 Municipal Election results in San Pedro. That means that Incumbent Mayor Daniel Guerrero, and the UDP 7 will be allowed to hold on to their council seats in the island town. That was the decision that the Chief Justice handed down today after almost 2 and a half months of deliberation.

The PUP Mayoral aspirant for San Pedro, Andre Perez, and his PUP 7 team, challenged the results of the election on the premise that there was supposedly a discrepancy of 275 ballots from polling station #37 on the island town.

Because the margin of victory was so small for the UDP slate, the PUP felt that they had a strong case to convince the judge to set aside the results of the election, based on this discrepancy.

On the other hand, the UDP side argued that there were small errors of computation and those could not have drastically changed the outcome.

After reviewing all the evidence submitted to the court, Chief Justice delivered an oral version of his decision, agreeing with the UDP that errors were committed, but that these errors are not enough to void the entire election. With that, he dismissed the petition and affirmed the March 7 results.

Coming out of court, we got a chance to speak with both sides, and here's what the attorney for the UDP 7 had to say about their court victory:

Estevan Perrera, attorney for UDP 7
"It's actually in our laws that it is expected that there are going to be certain errors and minor miscalculations on election day. It's expected and it's understood and it actually provides for that and it states that only if those minor errors or if those errors are substantial and if they would affect the ultimate outcome of the election would a court set it aside. And the persons who drafted the act were very clever, because they expected the fact that there would be errors, because we are all humans and so those minor errors that they brought about as we maintain from the start, were so minor that it did not affect the ultimate results of the elections. The votes were as they are. The numbers remained as they are and there were nothing on toward that would have suggested or affected the number of votes that each one of the candidates received and because of that, the court made this judgement solidifying that section of the act and stating that the minor errors which we pointed out were not sufficient in this case to put aside the election."

Reporter
"You feel that this is a moral win or just a legal win?"

Estevan Perrera, attorney for UDP 7
"This was both a moral and legal win. As we have always maintain from the start, we don't believe that the petition had any merit to it, because by the simply looking at the forms, one could easily recognized where the miscalculations were."

We also got a chance to speak with Mayor Guerrero, who was very satisfied by the outcome. We challenged him on the fact that his opponent got very close to almost unseating him from office back in March, and here's what he had to say:

Daniel Guerrero, Mayor, San Pedro Town Council
"From day 1 we knew that the people's wish was to elect a UDP town council and it just has been proven today that it was a very valid election and here we are. It's a second win for the United Democratic Party, so we have defeated the People's United Party twice and I also must apologized for the PUP bringing the public officers to the courts, actually throwing them under the bus. I think they did an excellent job. But yet we still prove them on a democracy, on a system that works and the Supreme Court ruled in our favor."

Reporter
"Do you take notice of the fact that your opponents came within striking distance, less than 100 votes, the margin was small and you could have easily been the one who's out of office right now?"

Daniel Guerrero, Mayor, San Pedro Town Council
"They came pretty close. Every election is different and the outcomes are always different. The thing is that we still won. A win is a win. It doesn't matter how close it comes. It could have been by 1 and it's still a win."

And lastly, PUP's Andre Perez granted his first interview on the election petition this afternoon, and we got a chance to asking point blank if he and his party wasted the court's time in ventilating their complaint against the March 7 election results. Not surprisingly, he said no. Here's how he explained why:

Andre Perez, PUP politician - San Pedro
"That's the decision the judge has ruled and we have to respect. However, the underlying factor we need t look at is that we cannot forget that serious errors were made during the process and that was acknowledge by the judge. And we from the People's United Party want to thank our voters as well for supporting us and at the same time want to know as well that we did our part in fighting and ensuring that fair elections are being held and democracy, which is the key word is preserved and that is why we felt that we gave a good fight. We never gave up. We felt that our rights were violated and that is why we found on that premise."

Reporter
"Should one look at this and say okay, well the PUP wasted the court's time?"

Andre Perez, PUP politician - San Pedro
"Not at all. I shoot that down then and there. We had a responsibility at the very beginning until now. Let's not forget, I go back to what the judge said that many errors were made and this needs to be a learning lesson and we need from a party and the nation has to be vanguard. Because although we still remain convince that errors still can affect the results, we must be on the lookout for the entire nation. I think a lesson has been learnt. So anything for it to be saying that this is all a waste of time. I shoot it down. Plan and straight."

"We remained convinced and more than sure that the People's United Party in San Pedro, the residents living in San Pedro voted overwhelmingly for the full PUP 7 and we go again to tie it together with what is happening right now - the re-registration. It is clear and evident and it's especially after this court case that everything came to light, that more than a thousand voters that lives outside of San Pedro came to vote. With all that said the margin was very close to almost 38 votes. We cannot forget that and everybody knows and even the UDP, the present government in power, know that the residents of this town didn't vote for them. They wanted a change and we cannot forget that. We bring closure today, but a message has been sent and I think the entire nation listening is clearly watching that we the People's United Party is not going to layover and rollover. It is a message here sent and we fight and we carry on and here I stand today declaring myself as offering myself as candidate for the People's United Party."

The PUP's have not indicated publicly if they will now concede victory to Mayor Guerrero and his team, but the UDP's attorney, Estevan Perrera, hopes that "good sense will prevail", and that this is now the end of this petition against the election results.

No one from Courtney Coye's Law Firm, which represented the PUP in this petition, showed up for the results. We understand that Eamon Courtenay is out of the country.

Notably, Andre Perez is already offering himself as a candidate for his party's standard bearer in Belize Rural South.

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