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Belize - Political Flags

Last modified: 2021-05-03 by rob raeside
Keywords: belize | belize united democratic party | belize peoples united party | belize peoples development movement |
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Introduction

Belize's political system is dominated by two parties. The People's United Party (PUP) was formed in British Honduras in 1950 and obtained the independence of Belize, remaining the sole significant party until the establishment of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in 1973. The UDP won the general elections for the first time in 1988, which established a bipartite system challenged by smaller parties, to no avail until now.
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021


Belize Green Independent Party

image by Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021

The Belize Green Independent Party (BGIP) was founded on 23 December 2012.
The BGIP obtained 0.00% of the votes (5 voices) in the 2015 general elections and could not secure any seat at the Congress.

The flag of the BGIP is horizontally divided (3:1:1:1) green-blue-white-red. Actual use of the flag is conjectural.

Image
<https://www.facebook.com/Belizegreenindependentparty/photos/1072729872860130>
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021


Belize People Front

image located by Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021

The Belize People Front (BPF) was founded in 2013.
The BPF obtained 0.56% of the votes in the 2020 general elections (3rd most voted party) and could not secure any seat at the Congress.

The flag of the BPF is horizontally divided pink-white-gray with the party's emblem in the center.

Pink and gray colors were chosen to emphasize a softer, less aggressive, social democratic progressive movement.
Pink / magenta is also used because of the initiative for women to raise equally in leadership with men, in all aspects of politics.
White represents the anti-corruption stance of the BPF.
Gray is indicative of anti-corruption, and independent minded leaders with Christian Democratic values.

The party's emblem features a pink map of Belize surrounded by a gray wreath composed of 50 leaves to signify a united, protected, all-inclusive democratic nation with intact territory.

https://belizepeoplesfront.com/documents/our-flag-logo/
Party website

Photo
https://lovefm.com/an-estimated-eighty-five-persons-nominated-for-the-upcoming-general-elections/

Image from the party website
https://belizepeoplesfront.com/documents/our-flag-logo/

Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021


People's United Party

image by Randy Young, 18 January 1999

Belize People's United Party (from the book "The Complete Guide to Flags," written by William Crampton, p.119). A horizontal bicolor of blue over white.
Randy Young , 18 January 1999

The People’s United Party was founded in 1950 to protect and defend the rights and lives of the people of then British Honduras who lived under colonial rule.

On December 31, 1949 the Governor imposed the devaluation of the Belizean dollar over the objections of the Legislative Council, unmasking the total power of the Colonial Government. That very night, George Price and others formed the People’s Committee at the Battlefield.
The People’s Committee faced repression from the Colonial regime, including the declaration of a state of emergency that lasted 137 days, but popular support flourished and on September 29, 1950 the People’s United Party was formed, dedicated to national unity and independence.

In the annals of political parties in Belize, the People’s United Party enjoys pre-eminent recognition. It was Belize’s first nationalist party. It is the most successful political party in Belize’s history having won over 80% of general elections held since 1957 and 70% of the municipal elections since Self-Government in 1963. The peaceful, constructive, Belizean revolution launched by the PUP. and supported by the people gave Belize nationhood: Independence, the name “Belize”, the flag, the anthem, the Belizean prayer and a modern constitution.

Only on two occasions has the PUP not formed the government: 1984-89 and 1993-98.

https://www.pup.org.bz/
PUP website

Oddly enough, the official presentation of the party stops in 2000. The PUP, defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP), did not form the government from 2008 to 2020.

According to Article 7 of the party's Constitution, last revised in 2010, "The colour of the PUP shall be BLUE and WHITE".

http://www.pup.org.bz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/CONSTITUTION-PUP-1.pdf
PUP Constitution

Photos of the flag:
https://www.pup.org.bz/six-steps-to-make-government-more-accountable2/
https://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/printthread/Board/58/main/76170/type/thread.html
https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/caribbean-breaking-news-featured/belize-opposition-party-scores-election-victory-promises-national-unity/
https://www.picfair.com/pics/01812727-inauguration-of-the-new-standard-bearer-for-the-people-s-united-party-pup-at-dangriga-in-belize
https://www.sanpedroscoop.com/2011/07/my-take-on-politics-in-san-pedro.html
https://www.sanpedrosun.com/politics-and-government/2015/10/19/candidates-officially-nominated-for-2015-general-elections/
https://www.sanpedrosun.com/politics-and-government/2016/09/17/pup-protests-to-save-belize-now/
https://www.westvision.bz/pup-demands-re-registration-by-july-2017/

Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021


United Democratic Party

image by Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021

Flag of the ruling party of Belize, the Belize People's United Party , is from <www.udp.org.bz> .Its file name is flag.jpg so it is probably an actual flag
Dov Gutterman, 7 March 1999

I reckon that the red-white-blue colours of this horizontal tricolour could stand for (or be derived from) the connections with Britain. But what would be the significance of the 6 black discs in the white stripe?
Jorge Candeias, 7 May 1999

The birth of the United Democratic Party on the 27th September, 1973 was the result of a merger of three parties involved back then in the gargantuan task of opposing the seemingly unbeatable and powerful People’s United Party – ruling party of the day. For 23 years before that, the PUP had dominated Belize’s political scene virtually unopposed.

The opposition consisted of The Liberal Party, The People’s Development Movement, and The National Independence Party. This amalgamation was born out of concern that the PUP performance to date was on its way to consolidate itself as the sole ruling party in Belize. During this same time in Corozal, a new group was emerging, the Corozal United Front (CUF). The time was ripe for tangible and active opposition to the People’s United Party.
It is at this point that a dynamic Reverend by the name of Gerald Fairweather with visionary initiative organized these rather ineffective opposition groups and united them into what would become the great party that is the United Democratic Party.

In 1974, The UDP captured an amazing 6 out of 18 seats countrywide. With two narrow losses by the UDP in Belize City and one by the CUF in Corozal, the Opposition had come within 17 votes of forcing a 9-9 tie in the House of Representatives. The PUP was stunned and Belizeans viewed the elections as a major victory for the Opposition and a welcoming signal that Democracy was alive.
Another victory followed in December of that year when the UDP, for the first time, gained control of the Belize City Council, winning 6 of 9 seats.
By 1977, the UDP had won all 9 seats in the Belize City Council.

The CUF of Corozal also joined up fully with the UDP, and in the 1979 National Elections, the UDP for the first time contested all divisions as a single opposition party.
Confidence was high going into the elections, but hopes were dashed when the PUP, having altered the entire electoral system, requiring all voters to re-register and obtain new ID cards, won yet another victory at the national level. With discontent and disunity inside the party, the UDP lost control of the Belize City Council one year later, Paul Rodriquez having resigned as Mayor even prior to the loss.

With new leadership and renewed determination, the party re-organized itself and re-captured the Belize City Council in December of 1983 in landslide fashion. And as predicted, on the 14th December of 1984, the once invincible PUP machine came tumbling down, with the UDP scoring a landslide victory in the national elections by a margin of 21-7. On that day 34 years of PUP rule came to an end.
The lack of cohesion within the party resulted in a marginal 15-13 defeat in 1989. In 1993, the party’s fate was reversed, which resulted in an unexpected 16-13 victory over an overconfident PUP.

After a stunning defeat in 1998, the UDP reorganized once again and made significant gains in the 2003 general elections, retaining the 3 seats won in 1998, regaining 4 additional seats and increasing its overall support from 39% to 46% of the popular vote.
In 2008, the UDP won those general elections by a massive margin, capturing 25 out of 31 seats. Tue 2013 elections were not as the UDP had expected and predicted. Although it formed government it did so with a disappointing though comfortable margin of 17 to 14. The UDP also retained control of six municipalities including Belize City where all six councilors were elected.
https://guardian.bz/
The Guardian, 26 September 2013

The UDP won once again the general elections in 2015, increasing its majority from 17 to 19 seats. Dean Barrow served as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2020.
In the 2020 general elections, the UDP experienced a severe defeat to the PUP, 5 to 26.

The flag of the UDP is horizontally divided red-white-blue with six black discs placed horizontally in the white stripe.

Photos
https://ambergriscaye.com/sanpedrosun/old/09-101.html
https://www.ambergristoday.com/content/stories/2015/november/05/three-peat-udp-government-and-manuel-heredia-jr
https://belize.com/bz-political-parties/
https://guardian.bz/?p=9763
https://www.sanpedrosun.com/politics-and-government/2016/01/30/udp-national-convention-set-for-march-2016/
https://www.sanpedrosun.com/politics-and-government/2020/10/21/nomination-day-pup-and-udp-candidates-officially-nominated-for-upcoming-general-elections/
http://takeurvitaminz.blogspot.com/2008/01/nomination-day-2008-orange-walk.html
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021

Belize People's Development Movement

image by Ivan Sache, 6 August 1999

Horizontal red over blue with a black triangle along the hoist.
Source: Smith (1975), pp. 340-341 ("Symbols in politics"). Smith says that these are real flags and not only party emblems, which may differ in colours when used as emblem or in a flag.
Ivan Sache, 6 August 1999

The UDP was a new party formed by the merger of previous parties, the PDM included (see history above).
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021


Vision Inspired by the People

image by Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021

Vision Inspired by the People (VIP) was established in December 2005. Several of its members joined the Belize Progressive Party (BPP) in 2015.
In general elections, VIP obtained 0.73% of the votes in 2008 and 0.30% of the votes in 2012, and could not secure any seat at the Congress. It did not enter the competition in 2015 and 2020.

The flag of VIP is yellow with the party's emblem.

Photos
<https://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/65439>
Ivan Sache, 8 April 2021