Opposition party to hold convention to elect new leader

BELMOPAN, Jan 30, CMC – Five months after it was trounced in the general election, the main opposition People’s United party (PUP) holds a national leadership convention this weekend to elect a new leader.

Outgoing PUP leader Francis Fonseca is facing a challenge from former leader John Briceno and Cordel Hyde, who is making his first attempt at leading the party.

Party officials said that there will be no last minute speeches by the candidates and that the process involves voting only by the estimated 3,000 delegates.

Political observers say that it first time in the history of the PUP that its leadership elections will be determined by the delegates, noting that this is as a result of changes in the party’s constitution which dictates that the number of votes garnered by the PUP candidates at general elections will be divided by twenty- five to determine the number of delegates per constituency, plus seven.

The three candidates have spent the last few weeks going around the country campaigning and media reports state that “in the last leg, the campaign has become even more negative”.

In the last general election, Prime Minister Dean Barrow won a record third term after calling a snap poll a year ahead of schedule in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

His United Democratic Party (UDP) won 19 seats while the PUP had won 10.