Espat & Hyde Call PUP Undemocratic

The PUP National Convention will be held this Sunday in Cayo and tonight, second term representatives and backbenchers Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde have publicly challenged Belize's grand old party, saying the convention process is not democratic. In a release issued today, the pair's first public statement since their press conference on January 15th, they criticized the convention process on two main grounds. Firstly, they object to the fact that no decision will be made on the convention floor on Sunday. Instead, to ensure a bloodless convention, the National Party Council will meet at party headquarters on Saturday morning and there, a group of 171 delegates will vote on who will hold the three contested posts of deputy party leader, deputy national campaign manager, and chair of public relations. Once that is decided, on Sunday, the full convention of 640 delegates will simply confirm those appointments. It's a process the PUP has had for years, and it's called guided democracy. But today in their statement, Espat and Hyde say its o democracy at all. They state that, "far more PUP supporters should be involved in the election of the Party's executive..." Basically, the complaint is that 640 delegates, or worse, 171 cannot make the decision on behalf of the 53,000 persons who voted for the PUP in 2003. With that, Espat and Hyde say they will recommend to the Party that the current system of 1 delegate per 100 voters be broadened, to allow 25 delegates per 100 voters, which would give representation to 25% of the pool of party supporters, not the current 1%. The statement concludes that "those elected to leadership positions...should reflect the will of as many people as possible..(this) is one sure of enhancing the democratic process...within the PUP, minimizing the influence of special interests and truly embracing reform." Seems well intentioned and sufficiently reform minded, but in the end it is a public stab at the first real party the hobbled PUP has been allowed since its troubles began in August of last year. And while the battered leadership of the Party may be able take this one more blow in its hobbled stride, its clear to political observers that Hyde and Espat are testing their fates within the party by publicly criticizing its most integral, intrinsic and internal process in a time when its every external maneuver is already under sustained fire. Still, however undemocratic, we are informed that Espat and Hyde and their delegates will participate in at least the Executive Party Council meeting on Saturday.