Freetown (Belize House constituency)

Freetown
Constituency for the Belize House of Representatives
District	Belize
Electorate	4,230 (2012)
Major settlements	Belize City (part)
Current constituency
Created	1961
Party	People's United Party
Area Representative	Francis Fonseca

Freetown is an electoral constituency in the Belize District represented in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belize since 2003 by Francis Fonseca of the People's United Party. Fonseca is the current Leader of the Opposition.

Profile

The Freetown constituency was created for the 1961 general election as part of a major nationwide redistricting. The constituency hugs the Caribbean Sea shoreline on the northwest outskirts of Belize City, also taking in some of the city center. It borders the Belize Rural Central, Lake Independence, Pickstock, Fort George and Caribbean Shores constituencies.^[1]

Freetown was represented by longtime People's United Party leader and Prime Minister George Cadle Price from 1961 to 1984, when he was upset by the United Democratic Party's Derek Aikman, a relative political newcomer. Aikman was one of two UDP area representatives who defected to the newly-created National Alliance for Belizean Rights party in early 1992.

A by-election was held in January 1993 after Aikman was expelled from the House for bankruptcy. At that election the seat returned to PUP control.^[2]

Area Representatives

Election		Area Representative[3]	Party
	1961	George Cadle Price	PUP
	1984	Derek Aikman	UDP
	1992		NABR
	1993 by-election	Jorge Espat	PUP
	2003	Francis Fonseca	PUP

Elections

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
2012 general election [4] Electorate: 4,230 Turnout: 2,031 (62.63%) −12.25		PUP hold Majority: 150 (5.0%) +4.42		Francis Fonseca	PUP	1,558	51.95	+2.37
				Lee Mark Chang	UDP	1,408	46.95	−2.05
2008 general election [5] Electorate: 3,687 Turnout: 2,761 (74.88%) −1.82		PUP hold Majority: 16 (0.58%) −19.42		Francis Fonseca	PUP	1,369	49.58	−10.42
				Michael Peyrefitte	UDP	1,353	49.0	+9.0
				Jorge Ernesto "Prophet" Babb	NRTCP	19	0.69	-
2003 general election [6] Electorate: 2,509 Turnout: 1,925 (76.7%) −12.69		PUP hold Majority: 383 (20.0%) −25.3		Francis Fonseca	PUP	1,154	60.0	−11.81
				Dough Singh	UDP	771	40.0	+13.49
1998 general election [7] Electorate: 1,988 Turnout: 1,777 (89.39%) +17.78		PUP hold Majority: 805 (45.3%) +22.3		Jorge Espat	PUP	1,276	71.81	+10.31
				Marisa Marisol Quan	UDP	471	26.51	−11.99
				Abel J. Rodriguez	PDP	21	1.18	-
1993 general election [8][9] Electorate: 2,758 Turnout: 1,975 (71.61%) +11.38		PUP hold Majority: 453 (23.0%) −18.43		Jorge Espat	PUP	1,214	61.5	−6.36
				Owen Morrison	UDP	761	38.5	+12.07
January 1993 by-election [10][2] Electorate: 3,166 Turnout: 1,907 (60.23%) −2.71		PUP gain from NABR Majority: 790 (41.43%) +31.23		Jorge Espat	PUP	1,294	67.86	+22.96
				Howell Longsworth	UDP	504	26.43	−28.67
				Adelma Broaster	NABR	102	5.35	-
1989 general election [11][12] Electorate: 2,771 Turnout: 1,744 (62.94%) −5.49		UDP hold Majority: 178 (10.2%) −10.6		Derek Aikman	UDP	961	55.1	−4.4
				Araceli Krohn	PUP	783	44.9	+6.2
1984 general election [13][14] Electorate: 2,151 Turnout: 1,472 (68.43%) −19.96		UDP gain from PUP Majority: 306 (20.8%) +17.2		Derek Aikman	UDP	876	59.5	+11.6
				George Cadle Price	PUP	570	38.7	−12.8
1979 general election [15] Electorate: 3,576 Turnout: 3,161 (88.39%) +18.01		PUP hold Majority: 3.6% (−17.9)		George Cadle Price	PUP		51.5	−8.7
				Manuel Esquivel	UDP		47.9	+9.2
1974 general election [16] Electorate: 2,242 Turnout: 1,578 (70.38%) −8.4		PUP hold Majority: 21.5% (+6.0)		George Cadle Price	PUP		60.2	+3.3
				Henry Fairweather	UDP		38.7	-
1969 general election [17] Electorate: 1,951 Turnout: 1,537 (78.78%) +10.46		PUP hold Majority: 15.5% (−6.2)		George Cadle Price	PUP		56.9	−3.2
				Henry Fairweather	NIP		41.4	+3.0
1965 general election [18] Electorate: 2,898 Turnout: 1,980 (68.32%) −19.52		PUP hold Majority: 21.7% (−20.6)		George Cadle Price	PUP		60.1	−7.0
				Tharine Rudon	NIP		38.4	+13.6
1961 general election [19] Electorate: 1,850 Turnout: 1,625 (87.84%) n/a		PUP win Majority: 42.3% (n/a)		George Cadle Price	PUP		67.1	-
				Sabino Savery	NIP		24.8	-
				Ernest Cain	CDP		7.6	-

References

1. Belize election maps, Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive. (accessed 20 November 2014)
2. From the Publisher, Amandala. (accessed 22 November 2014)
3. Elections Results, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 20 November 2014)
4. GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS 2012, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
5. 2008 General Elections Final Results , Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
6. 2003 General Elections final results, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
7. General Elections 1998, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
8. General Elections 1993, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
9. 1993 Parliamentary Elections, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
10. 1993 Freetown By-Election, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
11. General Elections 1989, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
12. 1989 Parliamentary Elections, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
13. General Elections 1984, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
14. 1984 Parliamentary Elections, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
15. General Elections 1979, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
16. General Elections 1974, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
17. General Elections 1969, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
18. General Elections 1965, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
19. General Elections 1961, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)