In last week's House Meeting, the prime minister accused the Leader of the Opposition of not having the support of her party. Outside the chambers, the Mesopotamia area rep, Lee Mark Chang, disputed that allegation. He claims that their allies have been winning in the caretaker conventions but what does that mean for the national convention slated for November? Here's what he told us.
Lee Mark Chang, Area Rep., Mesop
"If she did not have the support she would not be the leader of the opposition here today, that's first and foremost, we have to make that clear. She has majority support of the elected parliamentarians. So that is a go and also if we will have conventions, let it be fair across the board. You just can't cherry pick and say okay you get a Blythe, and the divisions that are in support of honorable Tracy have to go to a convention. So that is not fair and that is one of the reasons why the leader of the opposition did not agree to those conventions but I and a lot of my colleagues said we cannot roll over and let them win and beat us, we need to beat them at their own game. The thing is, one of their motives is to change the UDP constitution to suit their own agendas and we are not with that. So I took the initiative and I gathered and a team and we are fighting all the conventions, we have placed candidates in al divisions that are of course like minded thinking like our side, the honorable Tracy Panton. So we are fighting in those conventions. So 12 of them have already been held and finished, either by endorse or by convention so we have 6 more to go."
"Based on what you talk to be about the so call truck back experience and your back is against the wall and you're sincere about reaching out and making amends and making the party move forward, then hand over the party back to the rightful owner, the leader of the opposition. She has the majority, she has the mandate, and then after that, we could start talk. But if you're just posting something and trying to push your agenda without us knowing what is happening, then I don't believe that is right."
Notably, Panton's candidate did not win the Belize Rural North convention yesterday.
