And, one of the main complaints coming from many corners of the party recently has been the allegation that regional leaders such as John Saldivar in the West and Melvin Hewlett in the Central Region are being installed without the process specified in the party constitution.
Peyrefitte says that is a mischaracterization - and he explained how it has gone in the rental region:
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, United Democratic Party
"It was put in a group chat in that particular sub-group of anybody who would be interested to vie for the position. A deadline was given, a date was given - all preparations were made and only Mr. Hewlett submitted his name. So, I really don't see the issue. I mean what are we supposed to say? no Mr. Hewlett, we really don't want you, so since you're the only one put in your name we're going to install somebody else. Thats not how it works. It was a similar thing that happened in the West; only one person indicated that they wanted to be the regional leader for that area and so that was what happened, the same thing that happened up north and the same thing that happened down south."
"When you say violate the constitution, how? because in the letters that I get from varying members of the party, they fail to tell me exactly what their issue is. So all those areas that have regional leaders, especially in the Cayo District where the volume was high, I was trying to encourage as many caretakers in the west to vie for the position, so we can have a vote. If you don't want a particular person to hold a particular position even within the party, you challenge him and you get more votes than him or her. Thats how you do it. You can't fold your hands and say well if he is going to run, then I'm not going to run, if he's the only one that runs then I will come and declare him illegitimate. It doesn't work that way, sir."
