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Commonwealth Secretariat will observe elections

GeneralCommonwealth Secretariat will observe elections
With an unprecedented number of contenders in this year’s elections—an estimated 90 this year contrasted with 75 in the last general elections—the elections of February 7, 2008 will go down as one of the biggest elections in Belize. To ease public concern over free and fear elections, international observers from the Commonwealth Secretariat will be coming to do the first audit of a national election in this country.
 
Today the Elections and Boundaries Department teamed up with the Office of Governance and the Police Department to brief the press on the events of the coming weeks—beginning with Nomination Day on Monday, January 21.
 
Acting Chief Elections Officer, Ruth Meighan, told the media that the final voters’ list for the elections, as well as the list of polling stations, with candidates in each division, will all be finalized shortly after Nomination Day.
 
Former Chief Elections Officer, Myrtle Palacio, who now heads the Office of Governance, under which the Elections and Boundaries Department falls, said that the Commonwealth Secretariat’s team of observers may take a sample of the electoral divisions and cross-check the ballots. It’s a form of audit that fosters transparency, and free and fair elections, she further explained, adding that the cost is normally not borne by the host country.
 
The officials pledge that the elections will be done according to the proper procedures.
 
Revision Court, to scrub the final list before elections, is Friday, January 18.
 
On Thursday, February 7, 2008, electors can also vote in a national referendum on the elected Senate.
 
Meighan told the media that electors would vote for the general elections when they first enter the polling station, and if they choose to vote in the referendum, they would have to take a second ballot, dip a second finger in ink, and make their selection from one of two choices.
 
The gray box is for ballots for general elections, while the white and transparent boxes will be used for the elected Senate ballots.
 
The counting begins with general election ballots, and referendum ballots will only be counted in a particular constituency after those results are finalized in that constituency.
 
Voters need to be aware that marking the ballots wrongly will spoil them—meaning that they won’t be included in the counting, but ballots are also spoiled if the initials of the returning officer appear wrongly on the sheet of paper.
 
Meighan confirmed that a voter ID is not absolutely necessary on Election Day, as there will be binders at each polling station that can be used to crosscheck a voter’s identity.

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