United Democratic Party (Belize)

History

Foundation and early history

In 1973, political opposition in Belize was weak and the ruling People's United Party (PUP) had never lost a legislative election since its foundation. The main opposition parties, the National Independence Party and the People's Development Movement met together with a new Liberal Party to consider forming an alliance to fight the PUP. The resulting merger formed the United Democratic Party on 27 September 1973. Controversially, a significant portion of the United Black Association for Development also voted to join the UDP upon foundation.

The UDP's first electoral test was the 1974 general election in which it fielded candidates nationwide except in Corozal District, where it supported candidates from the Corozal United Front. It won six seats, and was within 18 votes of winning three more. Former People's Development Movement head Dean Lindo was subsequently named party leader. The party had success in municipal elections during the 1970s, but failed to defeat the PUP in the 1979 general elections. Its representation in the House of Representatives dropped to five seats and party leader Lindo lost his seat to Said Musa and was replaced as leader by Theodore Aranda. Despite internal divisions, the party retained control of three towns in the December 1981 municipal elections.

1983–present

In late 1982, Aranda was removed as party leader and replaced by Curl Thompson, who would later be replaced by former Liberal Party leader Manuel Esquivel following a convention. In December 1983, the UDP won Belize City Council election.

The party was victorious in the 1984 general election, winning 21 of the 28 seats. Esquivel became the first UDP member elected Prime Minister. The party went on to lost power in the 1989 elections, winning 13 seats to the PUP's 15.

For the 1993 elections the party formed an alliance with the National Alliance for Belizean Rights. The alliance won 16 of the 29 seats, with the UDP taking fifteen.

In 2020, UDP Prime Minister Dean Barrow called for elections to take place in November 2020. This was during the global COVID-19 pandemic which had hit the country's economy hard. The pandemic, along with impacts of Hurricane Eta, caused significant voter discontent with the current government. Ultimately, the UDP suffered one of the worst results in the party's history, winning only 5 of the 31 seats.

In the 2025 Belizean general election, the party maintained the same number of seats.

List of leaders

• Dean Lindo (1974–1979)
• Theodore Aranda (1979–1982)
• Curl Thompson (1982–1983)
• Manuel Esquivel (1983–1998)
• Dean Barrow (1998–2020)
• John Saldivar (2020)
• Patrick Faber (2020–2022)
• Moses Barrow (2022–2025)
• Tracy Panton (2025 -)

Election results

House of Representatives elections

References

References

1. Debusmann, Bernd. (10 January 1985). "Ex-Colony Fears Guatemala: Belize Wants Britain's Troops to Stay on Its Soil". Los Angeles Times.
2. Gunson, Phil. (1991). "The dictionary of contemporary politics of Central America and the Caribbean". Routledge.
3. "Belize". Helicon.
4. (12 May 2011). "Freedom in the World 2011 – Belize". Freedom House.
5. "Country overview: Belize". TrustLaw.
6. "Facebook".
7. (2020-11-12). "Oposición gana abrumadoramente elecciones en Belice".
8. [[Evan X Hyde. Hyde, Evan X]], [http://amandala.com.bz/news/from-the-publisher-255294/ "From The Publisher"] ''[[Amandala]]'', 24 October 2008. (accessed 10 May 2015)
9. Nohlen, p106
10. (2022-02-19). "Sir Manuel Esquivel, two-term Prime Minister of Belize".
11. However, they were soundly defeated in the [[1998 Belizean general election. 1998 elections]] as the PUP won 26 of the 29 seats, after which Esquivel was replaced by Barrow as party leader. The PUP remained in power following the [[2003 Belizean general election. 2003 elections]], in which the UDP only won seven seats. After ten years in opposition, the UDP won the [[2008 Belizean legislative election. 2008 general elections]], taking 25 of the 31 seats.[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/09/america/LA-POL-Belize-Elections.php Belize's opposition party wins landslide in congressional elections] Associated Press, 9 February 2008
12. (12 November 2020). "Belize elects opposition leader to succeed retiring prime minister". National Post.