Shyne, the former Leader of the Opposition in Belize, has officially lost his bid for reelection to businessman Lee Mark Chang. Both candidates ran under the United Democratic Party (UDP), but Chang emerged victorious in the March 12 election, defeating Shyne by 98 votes. Of the 2,253 registered voters, only 1,422 participated via News 5 Belize.

Acknowledging his loss, Shyne addressed his supporters, saying, “The people have spoken; congratulations to Lee Mark Chang—he’s now the new area representative of Mesopotamia, and I wish him well. I was confident based on my interactions with the people, but they made a decision to go in another direction, and I respect that.”

Chang’s victory marks a historic moment as he becomes the first Belizean-Chinese politician to hold a seat in the House of Representatives. Leading up to the election, he had been outspoken against Shyne, once calling him a “‘cancer’ that needed to be removed.” Following his defeat, Shyne also confirmed he would step down as UDP leader once a national convention is held to elect his successor. “Obviously, you can’t be a leader of the United Democratic Party once you’re not a member of the House. I would not want to be appointed as a senator or anything to hold on to the leadership… The people have spoken here,” he stated.

 

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Shyne’s Political Journey

Shyne first entered the Belizean political scene by winning a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2020 general election. The following year, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition and later rose to become the leader of the UDP.

Beyond politics, Shyne made headlines in 2023 as the subject of the Hulu documentary The Honorable Shyne. In the film, he revisited his involvement in the infamous 1999 nightclub shooting, for which he served nearly a decade in prison before returning to Belize. “I was absolutely set up to be the fall guy. I spent ten years in prison, but I was able to move on. There’s a time to pivot, there’s a time to transition,” he said in the documentary.

Now, with his political future in limbo, it remains to be seen what’s next for Shyne after his electoral defeat.