Speculation about a leadership election first arose back in 2006, just before the 2006 Belizean municipal elections. Barrow told LOVE FM that he will resign as Leader of the UDP If his party loses the Municipal Elections. The UDP has not defeated the than rulling People’s United Party (PUP) in any election until the 2006 municipal elections and the UDP was not doing very well after Barrow called for Civil Unrest In 2005. At that point debt troubles cloud the future, indeed the future of the UDP and Dean Barrow is nebulous in its own way. Barrow also stated that it was the proper thing to do and he would call for a Leadership election and convention if the UDP continues onto the path of darkness prior to the 2006 municipal elections. However, that all changed after the UDP won a landslide victory in the 2006 Municipal elections and eventually took control of the government realms in the 2008 Belizean general election on 7 February 2008.