And, the UDP is hoping that the message of a disconnected and insulated ruling party will resonate with voters in the villages. Now, to make it clear, these elections are - by law - not supposed to be politicized, but, invariably they are because the PUDP plays by their own rules. Second, the conventional and well established wisdom is that after a general election sweep, opposition parties do not do well in these elections - that's because, logically, voters are looking after their own best interests. Year two of a 5 year term is no time for a protest vote.
But, to hear Shyne Barrow spin it - it's a fine time to send a message to Briceno:
Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Leader of Opposition
"Only the people will determine what will be outcome of the village councils, but it is what I am in, there will be a message sent to the Briceno administration and if the Belizean people have had enough of th blukut and the gas pain and the hunger pain, then it is imperative that they send a message to the Briceno administration. If they like punishment and like pain, then they will vote again for the PUP and that is my position when it comes to village councils. I'll be very clear, there has been two years of a leadership crisis in the United Democratic Party, 2 years of internal turmoil, chaos and disorder and I was elected about 30 days ago and I am sober enough to understand that it is not necessarily that the UDP is being chosen, but it is that the PUP is terrible. The PUP has turned out to be a complete disaster and the people realize that you know what, boy, yes we had a problem with the UDP, but they were far better than this incarnation of the PUP."
Jules Vasquez
"When you mentioned that you had two years of instability and now we are just in 30 days, you were the one responsible for those 2 years of instability, so how can you sight that now as an excuse when you achieve the end you had in mind, that instability served you well. You ended up as leader."
Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Leader of Opposition
"The good thing about me is that I am practical, so when it comes to the village council, I don't deal with disillusions and false hopes and promises. We have to be real in order to hopefully achieve the end result that we would like which is UDP success, but not UDP success for the vein purpose of success, but for the wholesome purpose of this country, these villages and towns always been better manage under the UDP. So historically, village councils that succeed the general elections are never in favour of the opposition. That is a historical fact, but I have never seen a government performed this disastrous in my 43 years of being here. So what better way to wake somebody up than to tap them with the ballot."
Jules Vasquez
"All these slates that you are going to put, I know a few wont - all of them need money and they are looking to you as leader, Mr. Barrow and people have expectation of you based on your name, based also on your fame. People see a new leader and he is always profiling with billionaires - he must got a few million to help us. How are you managing that?"
Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Leader of Opposition
"Well, you know I am a fiscal conservative and I am handling it the same way I have handled it in the conventions. I do not believe in largess; I don't believe in excessive spending and so I am a firm believer in hard work. I am a firm believer in building relationships and you can't do that with money, so we will be financed, but we will be conservative and cautious."
Jules Vasquez
"All that said, if I could just extrapolate to a conclusion, you speak and I know the language, like a man who is broke."
Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Leader of Opposition
"You know you would always extrapolate to the highest evil. I won't get into what my predecessor left in the UDP account, I won't get into what was spent on municipal, I would do what I have to do, but all the bills are being paid at Wave by me, everything is being paid by me. I am providing the resources that I promise, but you nor anyone else is going to turn me upside down and shake everything out of me. Even the billionaires that I know in the country, they won't give up their resources like that. Thats how they keep their wealth and I know I am a rapper, but this is not a rap video. We are not making it rain; this is not the king of diamonds and we are not just going to be throwing away bags of money. Thats not how I do politics. I do politics practical and sober and there is no greater resource that the human resource."
