Tomorrow is nomination day for aspiring PUP leaders and yonight the intrigues are thick and the plotting, intense. First, the delegate proposals made by Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde continue to gain support. As we’ve told you, last week they proposed an expansion of the pool of delegates and requested that the names of those delegates be circulated well before nomination. Tonight, two more candidates have signed their support to that initiative with letters to the party chairman asking that those changes be made.
Belize Rural South’s Mel Spain and Port Loyola’s Oscar Rosado have joined the call. Spain’s constituency and campaign chairpersons also signed on – but the letter says that their support of the initiative does not imply support for any candidate as leader. That said, we’ll add that any challenge to the status quo, and this is that, is certainly not support for Francis Fonseca.
So all told, in support of the proposals are the 7 from the north that we told you about yesterday, 3 from Belize City, one from the rural and reportedly, commitments from the candidates from Cayo Northeast, and Collet – a total of 13 divisions whose candidates or in one case, whose chairperson are supporting or are said to be supporting the Espat/Hyde proposal. Significant, but not quite critical mass and tonight, with 22 hours to go before the 5:00 pm Friday deadline, all sides will be scrambling to get firm commitments of support before the deadline.
Which brings us to the other question: between Mark Espat and John Briceno, neither has enough support to go independently – so who will support whom? At this hour that is still not clear, both remain interested in the leadership – and is waiting for the other to blink. By tomorrow this time one of them should have capitulated.
