And finally from the PM - Caye Caulker elected their village council this past weekend, and Seleny Villanueva Pott, along with most of her independent slate, won for the third time - defeating a PUP challenge. It's one of the few villages that tend to sway towards independent candidates because, in most instances, it's the political councils that take office. In fact, independent slates took only 18 of the 187 village councils countrywide.
But even so, the law says these elections should not be politicized. However, it's hard to steer away from the usual PUDP tribalism when both mass parties treat the elections like life or death.
It seems to be getting more overt from the vantage point of this newsroom, but the PM said that's probably not going to change anytime soon since it's been happening for decades.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Have you seen what happened in the past 13 years when the UDP was out there using government's resources in trying to win the village council elections. Now, personally I've been always against it and I am still against it. I do not support the politicization of village councils, but it is a reality. It is something that we have to deal with. Both parties have decided that they want to put their candidates to be able to represent that village. I wish it was not that way, but it is that way. It has become that way and I again I believe that happened during the last 13 years under the former government."
