BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) – Prime Minister John Briceño has described as “the best gift I could ever get for my birthday,” the victory of the ruling People’s United Party (PUP) in the bye election held in the Toledo East constituency on Wednesday.

The poll had been called to find a replacement for Mchael Espat, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment, who died in April.

The the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) declared the PUP’s candidate, Dr Osmond Martinez as the winner, saying that he had secured 70 per cent of the 4,671 votes that had been cast during the poll.

The candidate for the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), Dennis Williams, received 1,159 votes, while Wil Maheia of the People’s National Party (PNP) received 202 votes.

“This is the best gift I could ever get for my birthday and for that I am very grateful to the people of Toledo East and Osmond Martinez to be able to deliver such a decisive victory for the party,” said Briceño,as the ruling PUP maintained its 26 seats in the 31-member Parliament.

“When you look at the municipal elections, 61 out of 67 and March was even bigger than in 2020 and 2021 and now here is another election where we win three to one, it is a mandate. The people are saying they are satisfied of the work of the PUP government,” he added.

But Prime Minister Briceño was quick to dismiss any notion of a snap general election, saying “we actually have until 2026”.

The last general election was held on November 11, 2020.

“I can tell you there won’t be a general election in 2024. If we wanted to be just cold and calculated about just getting re-elected, we could call an election right now and (Shyne) Barrow (Opposition Leader) has hardly any support in the party

“The influentials are not supporting him. The leadership of his party is not supporting him. So, there is no reason why we should not. But the most important thing is that we were elected to serve the people,” Briceño added.

For his part, Martinez, a former chief executive officer in the Ministry of Economic Development,, he told reporters “we had our targets and we worked towards I

“We did a lot of data science analysis. We were not worried about the margin. Our main objective is to win,” he said, adding “we won everywhere, including Punta Gorda. I was well embraced and for the first time in history we won Monkey River. The Maya communities we did excellent there. When you look at their numbers it is almost eighty-five percent of the voters from there”.

UDP deputy leader, Hugo Patt, said “we have thankfully people with experience that have done this before, and here in Bella Vista I can say we have a lot of youths taking up the helm to assist the party from that end.”

Prime Minister Briceño said he has not as yet thought about a ministerial portfolio for Martinez.

“I think first we have to get him to the National Assembly, get him. It is something we have to look at. I have not thought about it as yet but we certainly need the talent of Osmond Martinez. “He has been working as the CEO for the Ministry of Economic Development. It shows the depth of the party, that we have a lot of people with talent and experience and ability and Osmond Martinez represents that,” he added.