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BELIZE CITY-Belize elected Dean Barrow as its first black prime minister, final results showed on Friday, as the small Central American nation ended a decade of one-party rule marked by graft scandals and economic problems.Barrow, a former foreign minister, won a sweeping victory in Thursday's general election, Belize's chief election officer, Ruth Meighan, told Reuters.Barrow's United Democratic Party, or UDP, took 25 of 31 constituencies against six for Prime Minister Said Musa, whose popularity slumped in recent years.It was only the third defeat in half a century for Musa's People's United Party, or PUP, which has dominated politics since the former British colony of 300,000 people elected its first legislative assembly in 1954.Belize, known for its laid-back Caribbean vibe, gained full independence from Britain in 1981.Barrow's win also makes Musa, a white-haired former lawyer of Palestinian descent, the latest in a string of leaders ousted in Caribbean countries over the past year."This clearly is a people's victory. It's the people's judgment on the PUP. They're giving us a huge vote of confidence," Barrow, 56, told local radio on Friday as the count showed him far in the lead.Barrow ran on a platform of ridding Belize, wedged between Mexico and Guatemala, of the embezzlement scandals and financial mismanagement that hurt Musa's last years in office.
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