Former Belmopan Area Representative John Saldivar, whose leadership of the United Democratic Party was short-lived, has responded to Shyne's ascent to Leader of the Opposition.� In a lengthy statement issued on Tuesday night, Saldivar says that the issue is neither about him nor Shyne Barrow.� Nonetheless, Saldivar goes on to say that Shyne will not be the next leader of the U.D.P.� In his response, Saldivar� calls out factions of the party that are seemingly prepared to excuse Faber's behavior while they rejoiced at his resignation amid the Lev Dermen scandal.� While Saldivar maintains his innocence, he compared the allegation made against him to the current debacle Faber is faced with.� He was also very clear in pointing out that he shares no friendship with Faber.� In fact, he said, "step down Patrick, don't put our party through this, seek counseling for your aggressive behavior towards women, live to fight another day as I have done." In our interview with Party Chairman Mike Peyrefitte on Tuesday, we asked him about the challenges of maintaining objectivity in a critical situation such as this.

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, United Democratic Party

"As the chairman of the party, I have to make sure that all sides are heard.� I have to make sure that all sides are represented fairly and I have to make sure, for example, in a recall convention that the delegates' voices are heard.� If they choose to keep the Honorable Patrick Faber then that's it, Mr. Faber stays.� If they choose to recall him then that's it, Mr. Faber is recalled and then we have the Honorable Hugo Patt taking over on an interim basis.� It is not a pleasant situation to always be in.� We would prefer to have found a much more amicable way to deal with it than what we are doing now, but that's the nature of politics.� I keep repeating, politics is a full-contact sport and if you're involved in politics, it's not made for people with thin skin.� It's not made for people who don't have a level of toughness to deal with humanity."

Channel 5