She may be a lame duck area representative, but Corozal Bay's Elvi Vega will have to put up a fight if she wants to remain in her constituency office. Vega told us today that she has been given a notice to vacate the office - which she says she will not comply with.
Now, to be clear, constituency offices are paid for by the government of Belize. All 31 area reps, PUP and UDP get $2,300 dollars monthly to rent an office and pay staff.
And, until parliament is dissolved, Vega remains the area rep for Corozal Bay, so she says she is not going anywhere. She told us today that it is a disrespect to her and the voters who elected her for a full term of office.
Vega feels that she is being pushed out to make way for her successor Thea Garcia Ramirez - who has been elected the party's Standard Bearer. So Garcia Ramirez is now the PUP's new candidate in the constituency, which puts Vega in the unusual position of serving out the remainder of her term without a mandate from her party.
She says she's been given until Friday to leave the office - which she will not do, so we'll be watching.
