UDP Unveils Municipal Candidates in Dangriga & Benque
The United Democratic Party selected its municipal candidates in Dangriga and Benque Viejo del Carmen over the weekend, with Dwayne Sampson securing a victory in the race for the Dangriga mayoral nomination and Yusuf Guerra emerging as the party’s mayoral candidate in Benque. Sampson defeated Christalyn Castillo by a margin of six hundred eighty-seven votes to one ninety-five. Meanwhile, in Benque Viejo del Carmen, Guerra won the mayoral nomination over Danette Mendez, who will now join the UDP’s six-candidate councilor slate for the 2027 municipal elections. Following his victory, News Five spoke with Sampson about his vision and priorities for Dangriga moving forward.
On the Phone: Dwayne Sampson, UDP Mayoral Candidate, Dangriga
“The support for me have been good because I’ve been in this community. I’ve been a community servant for almost two decades, so the support is good.”
Britney Gordon
“And in terms of working with the party, moving from an independent candidate to running under the UDP, how has that transition been like and the reception from the party members?”
On the Phone: Dwayne Sampson
“It’s been, it’s been very good. You know, the party is very supportive. One thing I can say about the United Democratic Party is that the, the democracy, right? They show, they show the democracy. They use the democratic process, and that is what is good. You know, give everybody a fair chance.”
Britney Gordon
“And in terms of some of the changes that you would like to see in your community, what are some things that you think you can bring to Dangriga?”
On the Phone: Dwayne Sampson
“Some of the things that I can bring to Dangriga, well, not only me, Team Sampson, what we want to do is to tap into cultural tourism. Our team is a well-rounded team, and we have candidates that have been community service driven in this community. And then we have people like, like Marsha Mejia, one of my councilor candidates, that is already preserving the Garifuna culture in Dangriga. So we want to bring cultural tourism into Dangriga. One of the other changes we want to look at, people and residents, they complain about councilors in their area, that they do not know which councilor represent their area. So one of the changes we want to do is to have our councilors available by creating a clinic day so that the residents that they are looking over can go and meet them and talk about their concerns.”
Sampson said he is confident he can win the municipal election, stating that residents know him well and understand the values and leadership he represents.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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