On Friday, July 20, 2018, the Supreme Court of Belize Kenneth Benjamin rejected the People’s United Party’s (PUP) petition of the results of the Mach 7, 2018 Municipal Elections in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye.
Chief Justice dismissed the PUP’s request that the election be declared void and that the U.D.P.’s Daniel ‘Danny’ Guerrero and his slate were not duly elected. He agreed with the PUP there there were irregularities that occurred during the election, however they were not large enough to influence the elections results.
Attorney for the United Democratic Party, Steven Perrera, explained that the laws of Belize take into account that there will be errors on election day, but that the elections were still fair because the errors made in the San Pedro election were made after the votes were cast, which meant the results were still valid.
PUP Mayoral Candidate Andre Perez said that he would be consulting with his legal team to consider an appeal of the decision. The PUP claimed there was a discrepancy of 275 ballots and because there was a small margin of 38 votes between mayoral candidates Daniel Guerrero and Andre Perez, the PUP had filed the election petition seeking to overturn the election results.
San Pedro Mayor, Daniel Guerrero addressed the Belize City media as he exited the court room, “I have been at ease. I have been very confident. I think the election was clean as I mentioned from day one. The malicious act of the People’s United Party did not work because they want to gain power no matter what way or form. So to me we have been very calm, very smooth and the court has proven that we have been elected legally. I must apologize for the PUP bringing the public officers to the court, actually throwing them under the bus. I think they did an excellent job, the public officers. But yet we still proved them on a system that works and the Supreme Court ruled in our favor. So I mean we knew this from day one.”
“The underlying fact that we need to look at is that we cannot forget that serious errors were made during the process and that was acknowledged by the Judge,” stated Andre Perez, San Pedro Mayoral Candidate, PUP to the media. “That is important. We from the People’s United Party want to thank our voters as well for supporting us. At the same time we want to know as well that we did our part in fighting and ensuring that fair elections are being held and democracy which is the key word is preserved. That is why we felt that we gave a good fight. We never gave up. We felt that our rights were violated and that is why we fought on that premise. We cannot forget that. I think last but not least is that one of the most important thing is that we remain convince and more than sure that the People’s United Party in San Pedro, residents living in San Pedro voted overwhelmingly for the People’s United Part.”
