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BPP, BPM and VIP sue government over failure to implement redistricting

GeneralBPP, BPM and VIP sue government over failure to implement redistricting

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Dec. 13, 2019– The Belize Progressive Party (BPP), the Belize Peace Movement and Vision Inspired by the People have teamed up and filed a lawsuit against the government of Belize for the failure of the Elections and Boundaries Commission to implement redistricting of electoral constituencies in accordance with the stipulation of the Belize Constitution.

The Belize Constitution calls for the number of persons listed as belonging to each of the electoral constituencies to be roughly the same, and this has not been done during the recent re-registration exercise that was completed a few months ago.

Attorney Arthur Saldivar appeared in the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin last Monday at the commencement of the lawsuit. The case was adjourned until Monday, December 16, when Saldivar will have to amend the claim from a judicial review to a constitutional claim.

After the hearing, Saldivar told the media, “It’s really and truly not the question of redistricting per se; it’s a question of what the Constitution requires, that the constituencies be as equal as possible.”

Saldivar said that they have already gone through a period of re-registration, and given that that exercise is already completed, the distribution of the electorate is disproportionate in more than 70 percent of the constituencies.

“Given what the Constitution has laid out and mandated, it is something that we believe needs to be addressed”, he said.

Saldivar added, “What we are seeking to do, in a nutshell, is to give voice and effect to what the Constitution promotes. That is, that the constituencies, all 31, be as equal as possible. We cannot have some constituencies on the low spectrum, with a thousand or less, and those at the higher end with 7,000 or more. We can all see the disparity in that, especially when it relates to influence that every seat in parliament should have. Every voice should count the same as a voter.”

The Chief Justice has indicated to both parties — the government attorneys (Crown Counsels from the Attorney General’s Ministry) and the claimant’s attorney —that he may recuse himself from hearing the case because of his association with someone who sits on a board with which he has had dealings.

Belize Peace Movement leader Robert “Bobby” Lopez told reporters in Battlefield Park, where he and others held placards, “We wrote them – I believe it was in June or July – we’re saying, listen, you’ve had the reregistration, we now see what the numbers are; please, let’s proceed to redistricting – we heard nothing.

“A month later, we sent them another reminder; nothing happened. I actually met the chairman of Election and Boundaries in a parking lot; he came up to me, and he acknowledged that he received my letter – so that’s for sure.

“And he said he had forwarded it to the Commission and to the political directorate of both parties and was waiting for instructions; after that, we heard nothing. And we said, listen, we’re not going to wait any longer; we’re not going to wait any longer; we’re going to force them, that this cannot continue.”

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