BELIZE CITY, Fri. Mar. 13, 2020– The redistricting case that is before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin took another turn today as the government (defendants in the case) made an objection to the expert witness that the claimants (Belize Peace Movement and others, including the Michael Ashcroft group) have proposed to present, to provide assistance to the court as it assesses the redistricting process.
Crown Counsel Kileru Awich, from the Solicitor General’s office, who is representing the government, objected to the interested Party’s (Lord Michael Ashcroft) expert witness.
As a result, instead of the case management hearing continuing, the government’s attorney will make a submission to bolster his objections. Both attorneys on the other side, the claimants’ attorney, Arthur Saldivar, and the interested party’s attorney, Andrew Marshalleck, are of the view that the government is trying to buy time.
After the hearing, the attorneys spoke to reporters. One of the first questions the attorneys responded to was whether the government’s objection was a tactic to delay the progression of the case.
“I’m not sure. I think the whole approach to this will be — and you will likely see it going forward — is to buy as much time as you can. And unfortunately, the way the system works, it lends itself to that,” replied Marshalleck.
“Do you think that they’re trying to force a situation where the election has to happen before this case?” one journalist asked.
Marshalleck replied, “Well, I don’t know that they can do that. First of all, no election date has been set. It doesn’t have to be set for some time. One of the arguments that is being run is certainly that, look, we don’t have enough time to do redistricting because elections are too close.
“Our response to that is that no election date is set. So, how can you say that it’s too close? And it can go well into next year, which could give you more than enough time to do it.”
“But again, the nature of the arguments being put forward is such that they’ve conceded an obvious need for redistricting,” Marshalleck went on to say.
“I believe that the defendants — the defendants in the matter — have exposed their fear. I believe there is a fear of being exposed in terms of the padding of lists, which invariably would be borne out once the exercise is done. So, they’re saying now that they want to challenge the admission of experts. The only time that will happen is when you’re fearful of what is to be discovered. So, that’s my interpretation of the move today by the representatives of the Elections and Boundaries,” attorney Saldivar remarked when he was asked by reporters about the government’s objection to the expert witnesses.
When he was asked what reason was given as the basis for the objection, Saldivar replied, “Well, the official reason that they have given for objecting … well, they didn’t give any, really. A couple of you guys were there. They didn’t really give any reason. They are objecting for objecting’s sake. They are talking about geo-coding, and that geo-coding is not the only way that should be used. But, these are matters that the expert will answer.”
The case management is scheduled to take place two weeks from now.
Feature photo: (l-r) Andrew Marshalleck, S.C. and Arthur Saldivar