Former Bad Boy Records rapper Shyne
, now a politician in his native Belize, lost the latest election and will step down, conceding to the person who unseated him.According to Channel 5 Belize, Moses Barrow, better known as Shyne, has been defeated in h
is bid to be re-elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives and the leader of the Belize United Democratic Party. He conceded to Lee Mark Chang, who is also in the United Democratic Party.The “Bad Boyz” lyricist said, “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; that was the interaction I was having with the people, but they made a decision to go in another direction, and I respect that.”
Shyne received only 318 votes, while 601 people voted for Chang. Shyne did not even get the second-most votes, as the People’s United Party’s candidate, Lawrence Ellis, got 503, placing Shyne in third place. The election, which took place March 12, revealed that 1,422 people placed a ballot out of 2,253 registered voters.
This election was historic, as Chang became the first Belizean-Chinese to secure a seat in the House of Representatives.
The former rapper promised he would resign once a new leader was elected.
“I certainly will resign effective
once we have a national convention to elect a new leader. Obviously, you can’t be a leader of the United Democratic Party once you’re not a member of the House, and I would not want to be appointed as a senator or anything to hold on to the leadership.”“The people have spoken here.”
After Shyne’s incarceration for being involved in a New York City shooting at Club New York with Sean “Diddy” Combs, he was
deported back to Belize where he followed in his father, Dean Barrow’s, footsteps to become a politician. The elder Barrow served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs from 1993 until 1998 and was the then-leader of the opposition from 1998 until the United Democratic Party (UDP) won the election in February 2008.RELATED CONTENT: Feds, Lies, And Payola: 3 Men Plead Guilty In ‘Soprano-esque’ Fraud & Bribery Scandal Uncovered At Newark International Airport