Earlier we showed you how the UDP launched its manifesto with a muscular mass party showing last night - well with not quite the fanfare, the National Reform Party launched its slate of candidates this morning. The launch was aired on live television in Belize City - but there was no fanfare and no large crowd. But there were 11 candidates who talked hard on the issues of the economy and corruption, dodged questions on who is fueling the orange machine, and scoffed at suggestions that they aren't a viable alternative. But are they? Keith Swift tried to find out.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The candidates are from far north and deep south - and include a veteran educator, a sixth form student, and a union activist - led by party leader and Mennonite businessman Cornelius Dueck. And at this morning's launch at party headquarters, the candidates weren't uniformly dressed in orange - that was on purpose because for the NRPs, it isn't about the party or its color.
Gilberto Nah, NRP Candidate - Orange Walk North
"We are here for the Belizean people. We are not here for a color. We are here for each and every one of you."
And so these candidates want to change Belize and they plan to do it God's way.
Pevel Torres, NRP Candidate - Orange Walk East
"I believe it is the plan of God for Belize to have a godly government, founded on moral clarity. My vision for Orange Walk East and for the nation of Belize as a whole is to create a positive and inclusive desire for all of us as Belizeans to put our shoulders together by the grace of god and bring prosperity to all sectors in this country of Belize."
Luis Fermin Choc, NRP Candidate - Toledo West
"All the people who love God know that God doesn't like corruption. God doesn't like dishonesty and god doesn't like when you take advantage of the poor."
But the morning wasn't a sermon, union activist Edwardo Melendez and 19 year old Denton Castillo - a sixth form student from Dangriga - who is a fresh face running for the seat in Dangriga "bunned fire" and
minced no words as they railed against what they call a corrupt and broken administration - and by extension political system.
Denton Castillo, NRP Candidate - Dangriga
"They have forsaken the southern part of this country. I am here to represent the constituency of Dangriga. The people have not been represented properly. Both parties, prominent parties, have been given the opportunity to talk for the people and they could not do a simple thing as represent the Belizean people properly. I am a born Belizean. I look at the reality of the time. What will be left for me? Adults what will be left for your children? It is time for us to come together and to look not at the leaf that is ruffling in the wind but to look at the root of the problem. How can we fix it from the bottom so that the nutrients can flow and we can have green leaves in this economy."
Edwardo Melendez, NRP Candidate - Orange Walk South
"There are people who have to search in the dirt to find something to eat in this country and that has to stop. This is the time. This is the now
time. I just come to cry to the Belizean people...this is not a time to waste. It is the time to standup. I challenge the Belizeans in this country to rise up. Where is my little Garinagu brother, where is my Mayan sister and brother, tell me. Tell where are they? All the land in P.G. where are they? It is time to rise up. It is time to take advantage of the opportunities we have in this country to be Belizeans. To be number one to be first, to take over what really belongs to us and the only way we can do it is voting for the National Reform Party."
And party leader Corneileus Dueck says that vote will also get you a higher minimum wage, a cement factory.
Cornelius Dueck, NRP Leader
"Canada is willing to support the National Reform Party with a cement factory and with an ethanol plant. The minimum wage must go up. We cannot afford to live in this country by the minimum thirty percent, we must raise our minimum wage by at least 30 percent and maybe 50%."
But Dueck couldn't state how he would do it - and even with only 11 candidates - campaign manager Estevan Bejerano says the NRP can form the next government.
Estevan Bejerano, National Campaign Manager
"We are not just us. We have formed friendly agreements of workmanship along with the other third parties and we are willing to form a coalition with the other third parties if needed come after election."
The NRP says it is negotiating an alliance with the other third parties but nothing has been finalized.
