Simeon Lopez will return as the UDP’s mayoral candidate in Belmopan. At a convention yesterday in the capital, Lopez easily bested newcomer Khalid Belisle to earn the nomination for mayor. His slate was also elected. Over two thousand voters came out; Lopez received 898, while Khalid Belisle earned 767, a difference of 131. The man on the outside lane Eugene Brown got 196 votes.
The nomination of an incumbent Mayor is not usually news, but this one is. And that’s because Lopez’s opponent had full support from Belmopan Representative John Saldivar. In fact, it’s safe to say he was Saldivar’s candidate. And Saldivar backed him because he could not work with Mayor Lopez and the same was true the other way around.
So while the young Khalid Belisle is collateral damage in a bigger war, seems to us that the loss is really Saldivar’s – a Minister of Government handily defeated in his own back yard by a municipal leader. Some embarrassment also accrues to Patrick Faber, who did light campaigning for Belisle and was out at his camp yesterday in vocal support of his candidate.
And while the defeat has its own implications for Saldivar in Belmopan, there is also a trend that’s now becoming apparent, which could say something about the upcoming mayoral convention in Belize City. In conventions held so far in Corozal and Belmopan, two incumbent UDP mayors, Hilberto Campos and Simeon Lopez have handily outdone challengers. And while the trend may favour Zenaida Moya in Belize City, all bets are off, because politically the stakes are much higher.
That’s because self-described convention specialist Anthony Boots Martinez is backing her opponent, Anthony Michael while veteran campaigner and organizer Michael Finnegan is Moya’s campaign manager. That will be decided on October 5th.
