five years in single-seat constituencies on a first past the post basis. Members of the Belize House are called "area representatives" and are accorded the title of "The Honourable." Parties Belize has a two-party system, which has been in place since the pre-independence 1974 election, consists of the centre-left People's United Party (PUP) and the centre-right United Democratic Party (UDP). It has been extremely difficult for anybody to achieve electoral success as an independent or under the banner of any other party. Philip Goldson, a longtime UDP area representative who ran under the National Alliance for Belizean Rights banner in 1993, is the only successful candidate outside the two major parties since independence. Only once in recent general elections has an independent candidate received more votes than a major party candidate. Wilfred Elrington, running independently in 2003, finished second in front of the UDP candidate in the Pickstock constituency. Like Goldson, Elrington also had a longstanding prior relationship with the UDP. He later rejoined the UDP and won election to the Belize House from Pickstock in 2009. Despite the overall abysmal record of independent candidates and third parties, the political process in Belize still sees its fair share of well-intentioned people stepping forward to serve the nation. Process All major Belizean political parties nominate House candidates via a preselection process similar to those used in other Westminster systems. These nominees are called "standard-bearers." In most cases, incumbent House members retain standard-bearer status for their party, while the opposition party in a given constituency often nominates its standard-bearer months or even years in advance of a general election. Standard bearers are considered party officials responsible for overall political organization in their particular constituencies regardless of whether they currently serve in the Belize House or not. Members of the 13-seat upper house of the National Assembly, the Senate, are officially appointed by the Governor-General of Belize. In current practice, the majority party in the House appoints six senators and the minority party appoints three. The remaining four senators are appointed by nonpartisan groups. The most recent general election was held on 11 November 2020. Constituencies Since 2008 the six Districts of Belize have been subdivided into 31 constituencies. Constituency breakdown by district is as follows: Belize District: 13 (including 10 in Belize City) Cayo District: 6 Corozal District: 4 Orange Walk District: 4 Stann Creek District: 2 Toledo District: 2 Municipal elections