Category: Politics

For weeks, we’ve been tracking the growing calls for unity within the opposition and now, another major shake-up. Over the weekend, what was supposed to be a key National Party Council meeting ended in yet another breakdown. The fallout? Chairman Michael Peyrefitte has resigned, again. But was this meeting doomed from the start? Documents obtained by News Five suggest there were serious disagreements even before the meeting began, about how it should be run and who should be in the room. News Five’s Paul Lopez has been digging into the details. Here’s his report.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The United Democratic Party is facing what may be its deepest internal divide yet. And just when there seemed to be a plan to bring the party back together, things took another chaotic turn. A twelve-point unity proposal was drafted after Michael Peyrefitte returned as chairman. But instead of bridging the gap, it’s widened it. One major sticking point? A recommendation to exclude all constituency leaders who ran under the “Tracy Ticket” from the National Party Council list. That didn’t sit well with Opposition Leader Tracy Panton and her team. The proposal was meant to set the stage for a smoother NPC meeting on July twelfth but instead, it ended in disarray, and Peyrefitte has since resigned… again.

Patrick Faber, Former Area Rep., Collet

“You have these standard bearers who ran under supporting the honorable Tracy Panton and some who supported Shyne. Show me where the candidates who supported the honorable Tracy Panton were ever expelled from the party. You show me, I asked them. Show me.”

Recommendations were also made to exclude Tracy Panton and Patrick Faber from the NPC meeting, and to have the NPC reinstate them and all of Panton’s candidates as the first item on the NPC agenda.

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“If the meeting was genuinely to bridge the gap, to bridge to divide, to hold hands and say it is not going to be perfect, but let us find a way to move forward together, there would be no reason to exclude a former party leader, the lead senator for us in the senate, and the caretaker for us in the Collet.”

There’s also some confusion surrounding the list of delegates used for Saturday’s National Party Council meeting. A recommendation had been made to go with the list that existed before the October 2024 meeting led by Tracy Panton. But here’s the thing, there are now questions about whether that actually happened. Did the party stick to the agreed list, or was something else at play? That uncertainty is only adding fuel to the fire in an already divided UDP.

Patrick Faber

“Mister Salazar and honorable Hugo Patt wrote to Alberto August. I don’t know if that letter managed to reach the public. But they protested that the list was not the proper list. They changed up secretaries for at least five constituencies. They insisted that standard bearers who were status quo ante would not make the list and that they would put on their list.”

Tracy Panton

“And I mean no disrespect to Mister Jose Espat, who got less votes than the number of spoilt ballots in the Albert constituency, how can he sit in an NPC meeting and make decisions that affects the greater good of the party, and reflects the will of the people. It makes no sense. It absolutely makes no sense.”

Tracy Panton and her team were upset that former area reps Beverly Williams and John Saldivar were left off the list of names recommended for reinstatement, a move they saw as exclusionary. That was just one of several issues that signaled Saturday’s meeting was headed for failure. Following the fallout, Chairman Michael Peyrefitte resigned, again. Now, Panton is calling for an immediate national leadership convention. But former Mesopotamia rep Moses “Shyne” Barrow says the party will stick to its plan: constituency conventions first, then a national convention in October 2025.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Former Area Rep., Mesopotamia

“And we will commence with either endorsement conventions or the special constituency conventions and we will have the eighteen new or returning care takers and their executives which will proceed to vote in the October national convention for a new leadership executive. And we hope, which is why I don’t want to get into who was not reinstated, I myself want to restrain myself from getting into any further blood letting and hope that we can move forward, keeping internal matters internal and move forward reconciling and trying to bridge the gap where there still may be differences and have the opposition that the country is demanding and deserves.”

With the UDP’s leadership standoff still unresolved, we ask—will Belizeans see a united opposition anytime soon? Or is that still a long way off? Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez

It’s déjà vu in the United Democratic Party, Michael Peyrefitte is out… again. Yep, less than a month after stepping back into the spotlight as UDP chairman, he’s already walked away from the job he just reclaimed. And yes, if that sounds familiar, it’s because he already stepped down earlier this year. Peyrefitte first resigned after the March twelfth general elections, where the People’s United Party swept the polls. Then came the twist. In a move no one really saw coming, Shyne Barrow and Tracy Taegar-Panton pulled him back into the mix, hoping he could help steady a party still rocked by internal drama. Peyrefitte agreed, but with a clear warning: if the infighting didn’t stop, he wouldn’t stick around. Fast forward to this past Saturday’s National Party Council meeting, and things went sideways. Not only was Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton left out of the meeting, but the party also held a virtual vote to kick Senator Patrick Faber out entirely. So, what happened behind the scenes? And what does this mean for the future of the UDP? Before we get into the fallout, let’s rewind to June twenty-fourth, when Peyrefitte sat down with us after reclaiming the chairmanship.

Mike Peyrefitte, Returning Chairman, U.D.P. (File: June 24^th, 2025)

“I can tell you that all three of them fully support me coming back as chairman. I spoke to all of them yesterday and again today. And all three of them, I won’t go as far as to say that I was encouraged by them to come back to help with this process. But that, to me, is just a matter of details. We are in current discussions about how we go forward. I think there was a lot of positivity that was expressed to me yesterday and today and I look forward to us solving this in the very, very near future. And hey, if it doesn’t work out, I can always resign again because if I believe that we’re not moving in a direction that I’ve been promised we would be moving, then I reserve the right to say well I thought I was coming into an environment where we all accepted that we all grow where each of us grow and we all are to be blamed for whatever is wrong with the party.”

While appearing on Open Your Eyes earlier today, Party Leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow confirmed the results of an online voting process during the U.D.P.’s National Party Council over the weekend. But what really caught attention was his explanation for why former leader Patrick Faber was left off the list of members up for reinstatement. According to Barrow, nearly everyone agreed, except for one.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Former Area Rep., Mesopotamia

“I will say this. We have to have it own way, not both ways. As I have tried to explain to you why we are having the difficulties we are having you say to me, oh but people nuh want hear about that. Tired of the discord. So I am not interested in talking about that one member who we all know committed another infraction by attempting to interfere with the NPC meeting. I have no interest in rehashing that and everyone agreed, except for one person abstained, he didn’t object, just abstained that the person should not be reinstated at this time based on the actions. We just cant have that type of behavior. That is not the message we want to send to our membership and to our country. We have to respect the rule of law. Things don’t always go the way you ant it to go, but you have to know when and where.”

Patrick Faber says, “Don’t believe the hype.” He’s vehemently denying claims that he crashed Saturday’s meeting just to stir up trouble. According to Faber, that version of events is completely backwards. He insists he was on his best behavior, even if he did refuse to leave when asked. And as for the real disruption? Faber says he was the one who got confronted by none other than former Belize Rural Central candidate David Almendarez. Here’s how Faber breaks down what really went down inside that meeting room.

Patrick Faber, Lead Opposition Senator

“And for those who believe the narrative that I went their and created a scene. I know that you and others were their. You saw me go up to that meeting and I saw you took my picture and when I went up there, let me tell you what happened because the narrative spun is completely different. I was greeted with hugs and handshakes. I made my way to the left corner of the room by the podium and I sat their and refused to move and I sat their quietly and endured the abuse, very little from Michael Peyrefitte, which clearly shocked me. He clearly has something personal, because in the room he had very little to say. He did not even ask me to leave. It was Alberto August who asked me to leave and I said quietly to August I am not leaving, I have all rights to be here, I have not been expelled. I am a former leader, a lead senator, I have all right to be here. I know that as a former party leader, in fact Peyrefitte said Shyne is a member of the central executive and the NPC and national convention for life and so is Dean Barrow, well so is Patrick Faber. In fact the only ruckus that happened is when David Almendarez physically assaulted me and that was when, cause I heard you say on your report you said their was a ruckus and you heard they assault me. Others had to intervene to say that is disrespectful to our former leader, put the man down. That was what happened. And when Yellowman came in, not to ask me to leave, he said Faber has a right to be here. I will show you the video where Shyne Barrow phsycally picked up yellow and pushed him through the door. That is what caused the ruckus.”

So, where does the United Democratic Party go from here? Well, that really depends on who you’re talking to. Ask Moses “Shyne” Barrow or Michael Peyrefitte, and they’ll tell you the door is wide open; Panton, Beverly Williams, and John Saldivar are welcome back in the fold. But Tracy Panton? She’s not buying it. In fact, she’s calling for a full-on leadership reset, saying Barrow shouldn’t even be steering the ship. According to her, it’s time for serious change at the top.

Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“Let me be clear, Jamal Barrow lost in Mesop. He came in third in a three man race. And, any prudent and responsible leader of the UDP would respect the will of the people. He cannot, under the current constitutional construct be the leader of the UDP. He lost his seat. And so, the rest of us in this party need to come together and stand firmly on what is constitutionally right and more important what the people of this county are saying, what they said in the general election and what they are saying now. We need a leadership reset in the UDP and we must allow that to happen in the shortest amount of time.”