With just 48 hours remaining until the People’s United Party (PUP) Belize City leadership convention, the outcome of the party’s mayoral nomination race rests entirely in the hands of fewer than 800 registered party delegates. What is already being billed as the most competitive internal PUP contest of the 2026 election cycle has come down to a head-to-head battle between incumbent Deputy Mayor Eluide Miller and three-term Councilor Allan Pollard, while 19 hopefuls compete for just 10 available councilor spots on the party’s general election slate. On August 28, News Five reporter Shane Williams spoke with both mayoral candidates about their final campaign pushes, and got an update from PUP leadership on preparations for what the party promises will be a smooth, transparent, and orderly voting process.
Allan Pollard, a long-serving city councilor and former deputy mayor, has centered his campaign around his deep, long-standing ties to working-class Belize City residents, framing himself as the “common man’s candidate” with deep roots in the community. A native of South Side Belize City, Pollard argues that his decades of public engagement and accessibility to constituents have positioned him as the strongest contender to lead the PUP ticket into the March 3, 2027 general municipal election, where the PUP is widely favored to win control of Belize City government.
“A lot of people are familiar with my journey. They know how challenging it has been over time, with the different advances and the setbacks, and being able to come here and now participate in this convention to right some of the wrongs that has happened in the past,” Pollard explained in an interview with News Five. “I think that has helped a lot. And also just that access, that accessibility that people have to me. I’m from the city. I’m always engaged in the community. So for me it’s really just building on the relationships that we have already made in the past and of course making sure that people turn out to vote at the end of the day.”
His opponent, Deputy Mayor Eluide Miller, offers a vastly different career trajectory that he says makes him the best prepared candidate to take the helm at City Hall. Miller climbed the ranks of municipal governance from entry level, joining the council as an intern in 2019 before moving into a full-time staff role, then winning a councilor seat in 2024 and ultimately being elevated to deputy mayor. Miller is leaning into his hands-on experience at every level of city government and strong internal party support to convince delegates he is ready to lead.
“I think my journey through the city council is a quite unique one,” Miller noted. “I came into this council back in 2019 as an intern and I think my years of service has shown constant growth and elevation through the council. And so I think people really like that, right? People like that story. People like the fact that I not only serve at the executive level, but I know the council from the ground up. I know of the opportunities and challenges that exist at each and every level of the council, and I think that has helped me to really serve in a way that people has been able to access services through me. People has been able to get assistance through me. And I just think it has really helped me to serve in a more impactful way over time, and so people are excited about that idea.”
To ensure the contentious internal contest runs fairly, the PUP national secretariat has stepped in to oversee all voting procedures, with party Secretary General Collet Montejo leading the oversight effort. Montejo confirmed that a seasoned team of convention administrators from the national capital Belmopan will manage all on-the-ground voting operations, led by presiding officer John Bernard “JB” Wade, a veteran of dozens of internal PUP contests.
“This Sunday, the secretariat is serving as a supportive role,” Montejo explained. “The team that will be conducting the election, running the election from start to finish, is coming out of the capital headed by our presiding officer Mr. John Bernard Wade. JB Wade will be leading the team coming out, all senior people who are battle-tested in relation to running conventions.”
Voting will open at 9 a.m. at the ITVET polling location, with official vote counting expected to be completed by 6 p.m. Montejo emphasized that the party’s top priority is a peaceful, respectful contest that ends with a unified PUP slate ahead of next year’s general municipal election.
“Keep it peaceful, keep it civil, keep it professional. Be respectful of each other,” Montejo said. “Everybody’s aspiring for the same thing, to be on Team Eleven. And when it’s all said and done on March third next year, we want a PUP city council established once again.”
Remarkably, both leading mayoral candidates have echoed that call for unity, pledging to fully support whoever wins the nomination to ensure the PUP retains control of Belize City government. Pollard made clear that regardless of Sunday’s outcome, he will work wholeheartedly with the winning ticket.
“My plan for me is to become the next mayoral candidate, and of course my job isn’t to choose who the councilor candidates are – that’s the job of the delegates, of course,” Pollard said. “But whoever is selected from this convention, then I commit fully to working with them. They have now become my slate, my team, and of course we have to work for the people going forward after March.”
Miller echoed that commitment, stressing that internal party competition should never turn personal.
“Regardless of how August 30th goes that is my commitment to finish the term off strongly,” Miller said. “And of course, at the end of the day, absolutely nothing in politics should be personal. And so whoever it is that comes out of the convention, I will work along with them. I will work side by side with them to ensure that the PUP slate is successful come March of next year.”
With both candidates boasting strong public records and solid backing from different factions within the party, analysts and party insiders agree the race is too close to call ahead of Sunday’s vote. In the end, the decision will be made exclusively by the 787 registered PUP delegates eligible to cast ballots. News Five will be on location Sunday to cover the results as they are announced by PUP Chairman Henry Charles Usher.