Faber sworn in as Belize Opposition leader

BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) — Former Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber has been sworn in as Opposition leader, less than 48 hours after he led the ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) to defeat in the general election.

Faber, the former education minister, had taken over the leadership of the party from former Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who had announced he was quitting active politics ahead of Wednesday’s general election in which the People’s United Party (PUP) won 26 of the 31 seats in the Parliament.

Faber told reporters after being sworn in by Governor General Sir Colville Young that while he would have preferred a “different outcome” to the results “God has a different plan for me and I take very seriously every opportunity to serve this country that is afforded to me.

“And so, while the leader of the Opposition’s position is not one that I was jumping up for joy to fill, it is a very important position, it’s a very important role that needs to be filled at this time and so, as I said this morning, this role for me, I will take it very seriously and I will do justice to the people who have entrusted me with this position now.”

He said that the results reflected the will of the people who “spoke very clearly in terms of the voice through the ballot and we respect that very much”, adding, “People can expect from us in the UDP a full understanding of those results and that in fact we were ready to stand and support the Government or the People’s United Party Government.

“We believe that the role of the Opposition is also one that is important and so we will embrace this role now, given to us by the people and work diligently to get back the confidence of the people over the next couple of years that we are in this position, hoping that when next we are given the opportunity the people will return that confidence to the United Democratic Party.”

Faber acknowledged that several of the candidates were going into retirement, adding while it is going to be difficult in the near future “we are not yet at that point where we’ve made such an assessment to determine who is going to stay and who is going to go, but I think it is clear from the people speaking again through the ballot on Wednesday that we need to do very, very serious introspection as a party. “We need to reflect on what we’ve done that may have worked and what we’ve done that certainly did not work and we need to rebuild and we need to refocus so that we are razor sharp,” he said.