And the rumors on the ground are that the prime minister will be calling early elections. It's a question he probably answered a dozen times yesterday as he moved around the different polling stations. But should voters expect to go back to the ballots before the year ends?
Briceno is adamant about not calling elections in 2024, but what about early 2025? He said he wouldn't want to kick a man while he's down - and the Leader of the Opposition is at rock bottom.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"We will not have elections in 2024."
Reporter:
"Are we looking at March 2025?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I said, 2024, we have January to November, we actually have until 2026, so I can tell you it will not be in 2024."
Reporter:
"Dr Martinez says this is probably the most united you've ever been, maybe I'm misquoting him but he says you're united right now, this is the opportune time."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well obviously but I don't see us not being united next year. And yes, if we want to be just cold and calculating and callous about just getting reelected, we could call an election right now and the leader, Mr Barrow has hardly any support in the party and even the people that, the influentials in the country are not supporting him, the leadership of his party are not supporting him so there's no reason why we should not but the most important thing for us is that we were elected to serve the people and we still have a lot of work to do ahead of us, Plan Belize is a very ambitious plan that we presented and we have not fulfilled everything, we are not going to fulfill it by next year but we need to continue to work to be able to do that so it's not only about politics but about getting the work of the people done to see how we can get the people of this country out of poverty, to see how we can grow this country sustainably, how we can address the issue of climate change, there's so many challenges that we're facing as a country, so no, I will not take advantage of Mr Shyne and his sorrows, we will continue to work."
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