PM Briceño: ‘Who’s the Real UDP?’

The United Democratic Party (UDP) remains divided. Both Albert Area Representative Tracy Panton and Opposition Leader Moses Barrow claim to be the legitimate leader of the party. That battle is now before the court. 

This morning, on Open Your Eyes, Prime Minister John Briceño weighed in on the ongoing leadership crisis within the UDP. He said, “I don’t really have time to be able to look at all the imaginations from the two sectors or the two UDPs. Which one is the real UDP? Well, I guess that’s left to be seen.” 

Briceño called the situation unfortunate, adding, “Sometimes leaders, I think some leaders within the UDP believe that sometimes you have to broke down the dolly house and build it up again. And I guess that is what they are attempting to do.”

Briceño is no stranger to internal party woes. He experienced this back in 2011 when he resigned as leader of the People’s United Party (PUP). Briceño stated, “I said I’m going to step down because I was going to unite the party, and I still had different factions that refused to come around the table, so I walked away, but I did not try to be destructive about it. And I supported Francis Fonseca 100% and never tried to undermine him.”

Meanwhile, Panton opened a new party headquarters in Belize City last week.The office is located in the Mesopotamia Division and was facilitated by party vice chairman Lee Mark Chang. She added, “We have 18 standard bearers and 20 constituencies that align themselves with the work that we are doing.”

Despite this, Barrow maintains he is the UDP leader, focusing on preparations for the next general elections. “We have been campaigning, and we are prepared. We have intensified our campaign in recent months and weeks, and we continue to intensify, and we are ready to go,” Barrow stated.