Mesopotamia (Belize House constituency)

Mesopotamia
Constituency for the Belize House of Representatives
District	Belize
Electorate	3,710 (2012)
Major settlements	Belize City (part)
Current constituency
Created	1961
Party	United Democratic Party
Area Representative	Michael Finnegan

Mesopotamia, sometimes abbreviated as Mesop, is an electoral constituency in the Belize District represented in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belize since 1993 by Michael Finnegan of the United Democratic Party.

Profile

The Mesopotamia constituency was created for the 1961 general election as part of a major nationwide redistricting. It currently comprises much of central Belize City, surrounded by the Collet, Queen's Square and Albert constituencies.^[1]

The UDP has continuously held Mesopotamia since the 1979 general election, longer than any other constituency. It is widely considered a strong UDP safe seat.^[2]

Area Representatives

Election		Area Representative[3]	Party
	1961	C. L. B. Rogers	PUP
	1979	Curl Thompson	UDP
	1993	Michael Finnegan	UDP

Elections

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
2012 general election [4] Electorate: 3,710 Turnout: 2,256 (60.81%) −5.21		UDP hold Majority: 1,461 (64.76%) +9.99		Michael Finnegan	UDP	1,841	81.60	+4.68
				Philip Palacio	PUP	380	16.84	−5.31
2008 general election [5] Electorate: 3,255 Turnout: 2,149 (66.02%) −3.86		UDP hold Majority: 1,177 (54.77%) +20.4		Michael Finnegan	UDP	1,653	76.92	+10.0
				Austin Waight	PUP	476	22.15	−10.4
2003 general election [6] Electorate: 2,178 Turnout: 1,892 (69.88%) −14.3		UDP hold Majority: 526 (34.37%) +20.1		Michael Finnegan	UDP	1,024	66.92	+10.34
				Philip Brackett	PUP	498	32.55	−9.76
1998 general election [7] Electorate: 1,707 Turnout: 1,437 (84.18%) +26.81		UDP hold Majority: 205 (14.27%) −1.73		Michael Finnegan	UDP	813	56.58	−1.42
				Gilbert Ray Lightburn	PUP	608	42.31	+0.31
				Lisburn Earl Peters	PDP	9	0.63	-
1993 general election [8][9] Electorate: 3,052 Turnout: 1,751 (57.37%) +1.66		UDP hold Majority: 281 (16.0%) +8.3		Michael Finnegan	UDP	1,016	58.0	+4.9
				Steve Latchman	PUP	735	42.0	−3.4
1989 general election [10][11] Electorate: 2,818 Turnout: 1,570 (55.71%) −5.43		UDP hold Majority: 121 (7.7%) −30.8		Curl Thompson	UDP	834	53.1	−15.3
				Steve Latchman	PUP	713	45.4	+15.5
1984 general election [12][13] Electorate: 2,460 Turnout: 1,504 (61.14%) −26.0		UDP hold Majority: 38.5% (+34.4)		Curl Thompson	UDP		68.4	+17.1
				Myrtle Palacio	PUP		29.9	−17.3
1979 general election [14] Electorate: 2,489 Turnout: 2,169 (87.14%) +14.89		UDP gain from PUP Majority: 4.1% (−4.7)		Curl Thompson	UDP		51.3	+6.9
				C. L. B. Rogers	PUP		47.2	−5.5
1974 general election [15] Electorate: 2,281 Turnout: 1,648 (72.25%) +8.65		PUP hold Majority: 8.8% (−0.7)		C. L. B. Rogers	PUP		52.7	−1.2
				Curl Thompson	UDP		44.4	-
1969 general election [16] Electorate: 2,066 Turnout: 1,314 (63.6%) −7.07		PUP hold Majority: 9.5% (+3.4)		C. L. B. Rogers	PUP		53.9	+1.7
				Colville Young	NIP		43.9	−2.2
1965 general election [17] Electorate: 3,396 Turnout: 2,400 (70.67%) −9.02		PUP hold Majority: 6.1% (−27.9)		C. L. B. Rogers	PUP		52.2	−10.2
				Colville Young	NIP		46.1	+17.7
1961 general election [18] Electorate: 2,501 Turnout: 1,993 (79.69%) n/a		PUP win Majority: 34.0% (n/a)		C. L. B. Rogers	PUP		62.4	-
				Erlean Casasola	NIP		28.4	-
				Edward Usher	CDP		8.6	-

References

1. Belize election maps, Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive. (accessed 20 November 2014)
2. "Finnegan wakes to color Mesopotamia red", Great Belize Television, 14 February 2012. (accessed 20 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. General Elections 1989, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
11. 1989 Parliamentary Elections, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
12. General Elections 1984, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
13. 1984 Parliamentary Elections, Political Database of the Americas. (accessed 22 November 2014)
14. General Elections 1979, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
15. General Elections 1974, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
16. General Elections 1969, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
17. General Elections 1965, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)
18. General Elections 1961, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)