Director of the Office of Governance, Myrtle Palacio, responded today via a press release to calls from the Opposition, the United Democratic Party (UDP), for her to excuse herself from the election process.
Last Friday, February 1, the UDP issued a press release alleging that “A series of e-mails between Mrs. Palacio, Said Musa and Yasser Musa [Musa’s son] leaked to the UDP illustrate improper interference in the electoral process in the Belize Rural North constituency, voter education and service providers for Election Day tools.”
Today, Palacio responded saying, “The United Democratic Party had given no details on the alleged e-mails, because no such e-mails exist.”
And indeed, the UDP release did not give specifics, so we checked with the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Dean Barrow, who told us that he had not seen the e-mails, but “had heard Juliet (of Wave’s morning show) talking about them.”
The copies of the e-mails forwarded by the UDP to our newspaper, after we asked to see them, only indicate communications from Palacio to the PUP regarding an appearance for voter education on Channel 5.
We don’t know who initiated the dialogue and what the purpose of the dialogue was. The UDP also complained that they had gotten their voters’ list after the PUP did.
All our attempts today to reach Palacio at her office in Belmopan and the Elections and Boundaries Department in Belize City regarding the UDP’s allegations of “possible collusion” with the PUP proved futile.
Palacio was Chief Elections Officer from 1999 to 2005, and she is considered one of the most well versed election veterans in the public service.
The Chief Elections Officer is Ruth Meighan, who only took up that position in October and who, at a meeting with the press in January, had said that she was still learning the system while preparing for the General Elections/Senate Referendum.