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That lack of a choice seems to offend a basic principle how a democracy should work but the PM sees it differently: he sees it as an implicit endorsement:

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"It's not a failure of democracy, that is democracy, people decide who they want. In this instance, nobody felt that they wanted, they quite likely felt that Anthony Mahler has been doing a great job so why would I want to challenge Anthony Mahler if he's doing a good job, why would I challenge if I believe the people are supporting him? I'd be wasting my time, my effort, and the limited resources. So it's not a failure, it's a true testament to the strength of the democratic process in Belize."

Reporter:
"The leader of the opposition is alleging that you guys paid off those candidates."

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I guess desperate statements during desperate times. Trying to find an excuse. it is obvious that the person who was there felt that he doesn't have a chance to win and they felt that Anthony, by any measurements, Anthony has been doing a tremendous job as the area rep so why would you do against a person that you know what the results were going to be, that you're going to lose. If you look at it, what the leader of the opposition is trying to do, all he's trying to do, he's thinking beyond this general election, he's thinking about his election as leader of the party, because after this election, it is well know, after the general elections that the UDP will have a national convention and it is important for him to field candidates just to field candidates, knowing that they won't win but he wants to be able to do that so that he can control the delegates so I don't expect anything less from the leader of opposite."

Courtney Menzies:
"Your Cabinet colleague, Mr Espat, Julius, he had a different opinion. He believes that in order to have a strong democracy you have to have a strong opposition, that people, at the end of the day, win or lose, should be able to go to the ballots and put an X on a name."

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"He's not saying anything different than what I'm standing for. We need to have a strong democracy. But there comes a point sometimes that you have a very strong leader, a person that has been working for the people, delivering for the people so that others will say, why am I going to upset this? Why am I going to put my name when I know that the people are happy with him? That is the democratic process so Julius is not saying anything different than I've just said."