Belize is a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy,whereby the king of Belize serves as head of state and the prime minister is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize.
Said Wilbert Musa is a Belizean lawyer and politician. He was the third prime minister of Belize from 28 August 1998 to 8 February 2008.
The United Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the main opposition party,having lost the 2020 Belizean general election,after previously holding the government across three prior terms. Founded as a centre-right conservative party,the UDP is led by Moses Barrow.
Sir Manuel Amadeo Esquivel was a Belizean politician. As leader of the United Democratic Party,he served as the second prime minister of Belize from 1984 to 1989,and then again from 1993 to 1998. His party's victory in 1984 was the first time an opposition party had won a general election in Belize.
Dean Oliver Barrow,SC PC is a politician from Belize who served as the fourth prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party.
John Antonio Briceño is a Belizean politician who is the fifth and current prime minister of Belize. He has been in office since 12 November 2020 and the leader of the People's United Party (PUP) since 2016. He was Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011 and from 2016 to 2020. From 1998 to 2007,he served as the deputy prime minister under Prime Minister Said Musa.
The House of Representatives of Belize is the lower chamber of the National Assembly,the other being the Senate. It was created under the 1981 constitution. Members are commonly called "Area Representatives".
General elections were held in Belize on 27 August 1998. The result was a victory for the People's United Party,which won 26 of the 29 seats and Said Musa was elected as prime minister for the first time. Voter turnout was 90%,the highest since independence.
The National Alliance for Belizean Rights (NABR),formed as the Patriotic Alliance for Territorial Integrity,was a political party in Belize in the 1990s. The party colour was forest green.
The Leader of the Opposition is an elected official who,according to the Constitution,"commands the support of those elected officials that do not support the Government." The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Representatives that is not in government.
General elections were held in Belize on 7 February 2008. Beginning with this election,Belizeans elected 31 members to the House of Representatives of Belize instead of 29. In what was considered an upset,the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) won the election with 25 out of 31 seats;the ruling People's United Party won six.
Dean Russel Lindo was a Belizean attorney and politician. He was one of the principal founders of the United Democratic Party in 1973 and served as its first leader from 1974 to 1979.
Michael Kwame Finnegan is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party. He served as Minister of Housing and Urban Development in Prime Minister Dean Barrow's cabinet. He was a member of the House of Representatives,representing the Mesopotamia Electoral Division in Belize City from 1993 to 2020. Finnegan hosts the television show Mek Wave and Lik Road.
Erwin Rafael "Winchi" Contreras is a Belizean politician and former footballer. From 2008 to 2012 he was the Minister of Economic Development,Commerce,Industry and Consumer Protection in Belize. After the 2012 election he was made Minister of Trade Investment,Private Sector Development and Consumer Protection.
John Birchman Saldivar is a Belizean politician. A member of the United Democratic Party,Saldivar has represented the Belmopan constituency in the Belize House of Representatives from its creation in 2008 until his defeat in the 2020 general election. He was previously Area Representative for Cayo South.
Elvin Penner is a Belizean politician who served in the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2015 representing the Cayo North East constituency. He is a member of the United Democratic Party. Penner was the first Belizean Mennonite elected to national office.
General elections were held in Belize on 4 November 2015 to elect members of the House of Representatives. On 28 September 2015 Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that he had advised the Governor-General to dissolve the National Assembly and to fix Wednesday 4 November 2015 as the date for the next general elections.
General elections were held in Belize on 11 November 2020 to elect the 31 members of the House of Representatives. Nomination day was 21 October.
Omar Figueroa is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP). He was elected in January 2015 as Area Representative for the Cayo North constituency in the Cayo District. Figueroa is also a biologist and conservationist. Prior to his political career,Figueroa studied jaguars in the Maya Forest Corridor. As of 2020,Figueroa serves as the Minister for Fisheries,Forestry,the Environment,and Sustainable Development.
The Belize People's Front is a Belizean progressive and social democratic centre-left political party founded in 2013. The BPF made its electoral debut in the 2020 Belizean general election on 11 November 2020,in which it fielded 13 candidates and became the third largest political party in the country. BPF's leader Nancy Marin is the first female political party leader in Belize.
