Dr. Osmond Martinez Receives 70% of Votes Casted in Toledo East

On Wednesday, voters of Toledo East visited various polling stations across the constituency to cast their ballots in favor of their candidate of choice.  By the close of polls at six p.m., over four thousand, six hundred votes were to be counted at the Toledo Community College.  It was the culmination of weeks of groundwork by the mass parties.  But it was a show of force by the People’s United Party whose machinery included a host of ministers, area representatives, standard bearers, and C.E.O.s and all hands were on deck to deliver this victory. News Five’s Paul Lopez takes a closer look.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

It was a sixty-fourth birthday that Prime Minister John Briceño will remember. A full bite from a birthday cake that PUP supporters in Bella Vista Village surprised him with, and a commanding victory for Dr. Osmond Martinez in Toledo East.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“This is the best gift I could ever get for my birthday and for that I am very grateful to the people of Toledo East and Osmond Martinez to be able to deliver such a decisive victory for the party.”

 

A decisive victory indeed. Dr. Osmond Martinez secured seventy percent of the ballots cast, defeating his U.D.P. opponent by a ratio of three votes to one. Wil Maheia received only four percent of the total votes.

 

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“When you look at the municipal elections sixty-one out if sixty-seven and March was even bigger than in 2020 and 2021 and now here is another election where we win three to one, it is a mandate. The people are saying they are satisfied of the work of the P.U.P. government.”

 

 

 

 

Dr. Osmond Martinez, Newly-Elected Area Rep.

“We had our targets and we worked towards it. We did a lot of data science analysis. We were not worried about the margin. Our main objective is to win.”

 

 

 

 

 

From the look of it, the People’s United Party did not spare a single area representative, standard bearer, CEO, or municipal body. The who’s who of the P.U.P. were in Toledo working to deliver the big win. The same can be said of the United Democratic Party whose executive, senators, standard bearers, and street soldiers were all on the ground putting in work. But, why this show of muscle for a by-election in a single constituency ahead of a general election next year?

 

 

 

Paul Lopez

“Don’t you think this is an overkill for a by election?”

 

Kareem Musa, Area Representative, Caribbean Shores

“No, it is absolutely not. I think it is very important for us as a party to come and show support to doctor Osmond.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry Charles Usher, P.U.P. Chairman

“We are all creatures of politics. We are political creatures. We live for these moments. I don’t see it as any type or over kill or anything you said there. This is about his colleagues from across the country supporting him, supporting the people of Toledo East.”

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, U.D.P.

“It is usually you take a holiday, you take a nice drive down to PG and you relax for a weekend or something. But it is great to be here.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hugo Patt, Deputy Leader, U.D.P.

“We have thankfully people with experience that have done this before. And here in Bella Vista I can say we have a lot of youths taking up the helm to assist the party from that end.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the U.D.P. began packing up and leaving Bella Vista even before the polls closed. As if the writing was already on the wall, the opposition’s machinery even took a moment to greet Martinez. Party Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow exited the counting station at eight- thirty p.m., hours before the official results were announced. He was not seen or heard from for the remainder of the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Osmond Martinez

“We won everywhere, including Punta Gorda. I was well embraced and for the first time in history we won Monkey River. The Maya communities we did excellent there. When you look at their numbers it is almost eighty-five percent of the voters from there.”

 

Paul Lopez

“I see the prime Minister behind is beaming with joy like a proud father. What was the initial discussion had with him after realizing you won this won?”

 

Dr. Osmond Martinez

“This is his gift. We worked together and it shows that the People’s United Party under Prime Minister John Briceno is stronger than ever. This shows the unity of the party. We had support from each and every Minister In some way or the other. All I can say is that the P.U.P. is stronger than ever after four years.”

 

Reporting for News 5, I am Paul Lopez.