PUP Convention: How Much Did the Mayoral Race Really Cost? 

The PUP’s mayoral convention between candidates Allan Pollard and Eluide Miller may be over, but questions about how much was spent to secure the nomination continue hanging in the air. 

The scale of the campaign machinery on display on Sunday suggests significant money was spent in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Estimates based on conversations with campaign sources put total spending as high as $1 million, with each candidate potentially spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on mobilisation, T-shirts, tents and other campaign activities.

However, Area Representative for Caribbean Shores Kareem Musa stopped short of putting the figure that high. “It frightened me as much as it frightened you,” Musa said when asked about the scale of spending. “Coming out here today it certainly is overwhelming. You look at all the t-shirts and all the tents, clearly a nice penny was spent out here today.”

Musa agreed that the spending reflects the need for campaign finance legislation, which he said he hopes to see drafted before the end of the year. “Certainly, I have met with the NTUCB and the social partners on that. And, I have given my undertaking, at least from my end, that we will have a draft legislation by the end of this year,” he said, while justifying the spending at this latest PUP convention as “High stakes, high tension.” 

He added, “We have never had in the history of our party a mayoral convention, and that would explain why.”

Miller will now carry the PUP’s banner into the March 2027 municipal elections, where he will lead the party’s bid to reclaim Belize City Hall.

Tune in to News 5 Live tonight at 6 o’clock for a full scope of Sunday’s events.