As the 2026 local political cycle enters its campaigning phase in Belize’s Cayo District, incumbent Belmopan Mayor Pablo Cawich has officially announced his bid for a second consecutive term, leading a full slate of council candidates from his party. With weeks remaining before voters head to the polls, Cawich has centered his campaign around uncompleted priorities that he argues justify another term in office, pinning his top policy goals on widespread road upgrades and long-overdue municipal infrastructure improvements across the city.
First elected to the mayor’s office in 2024, Cawich acknowledged that his administration has made measurable progress across nearly two and a half years in power, but stressed that the city has not yet reached the development benchmarks his team set when they took office. In comments to reporters, Cawich detailed the difficult starting point his administration inherited: when his party took control of City Hall in 2024, both the municipal budget and the city’s core public assets were left in disarray by the previous governing administration. While he confirmed that significant structural and financial reforms have pulled the municipality into a far more stable position today, he argued that continued leadership from his team is needed to see ongoing projects through to completion.
To advance his infrastructure and development agenda, Cawich explained that his council has adopted a targeted approach to project prioritization, actively pursuing collaborative partnerships with public and private organizations to secure additional funding and streamline the delivery of public works. This strategy, he argued, has allowed the city to move forward with improvements that would not have been possible through municipal funding alone.
Cawich’s re-election bid faces a direct challenge from United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate Richie Galvez, who is looking to unseat the incumbent. In response to the challenge, Cawich pushed back against Galvez’s campaign, tying the challenger to the previous UDP administration that Cawich blames for leaving the municipality in what he describes as an exceptionally poor state. He argued that Galvez’s ties to the previous failed leadership make him an unsuitable candidate to lead the city forward.
One of the most notable points of Cawich’s campaign platform is his commitment to continuing his working relationship with Belmopan Area Representative Oscar Mira, despite the ongoing “Mira Millions” procurement scandal that has surrounded Mira in recent months. Cawich emphasized that Mira holds an elected regional position that is critical to advancing Belmopan’s development goals, making continued cooperation a practical necessity for the city’s growth. While he acknowledged that the scandal surrounding Mira is an unfortunate development, Cawich argued that questions around the scandal are a matter for higher-level authorities to resolve, and that he remains focused on moving the city’s development agenda forward regardless of the ongoing controversy.
The announcement of Cawich’s re-election bid has also sparked local political speculation about whether his party, the People’s United Party (PUP), is at risk of losing support in the key Belmopan constituency heading into the 2026 elections, as voters weigh the incumbent’s progress against ongoing controversies and the opposition’s challenge.