_{(l-r) Rudy Wade; Giovanni de la Fuente; Sharon Pitts; and Paul Morgan}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Feb. 18, 2025

On Tuesday, February 18. The Belize Peace Movement (BPM) held a press conference in Belize City, during which they pointed to the need to expedite their court hearing on Redistricting Case 730 of 2024.

The case before the court, filed in November 2024, argues that if the upcoming general election proceeds without the discrepancies in electoral divisions being addressed, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) would be violating the Constitution of Belize.

In fact, according to Paul Morgan, a member of the BPM, the rights of the Belizean people would be violated if the 2025 general election, scheduled to be held on Wednesday, March 12, goes forward as planned.

“He can call elections whenever he wants to. But what he doesn’t have the right to do is to mingle, is to get a situation where the courts and the executive, which he leads, must come into conflict. That is what is happening at this point … the people who will be hurt if this election is called without fixing the division, the Schedule One. If it is called, our rights will be abrogated, our rights will be violated, all of us together; and this is our case, why our case is so important,” he said.

He added, “Johnny Briceno, [the] prime minister, would be the first prime minister in Belize to ask for an election when, in fact, an issue with this schedule is before the courts; and that is why we cared to document that for posterity.”

According to Morgan, the upcoming elections can be held before 2026.

“This prime minister has been conducting another illegal election. I mean, if he does that, well then, again, he will be prostituting our Constitution All that I would like to see is that redistricting is done, and equal representation is had as for our Constitution. The thing is that, all we are asking for is to make it equal. If you have an area that [has] 2,000 people, 3,000 people, and areas that have 9,000 or 10,000, where is the equal?”, remarked Rudy Wade, another member of BPM.

Morgan also made reference to another legal effort to ensure redistricting, which is being spearheaded by Jerry Enriquez and his attorney Anand Ramlogan, who are attempting to postpone the elections through the High Court with claims that are similar to those submitted by the BPM. Morgan explained the difference between both cases.

“It is like two buckets; one has 3/4 and the other has 5/8, similar … It’s asking the court a simple question: whether or not Schedule 1 of ROPA [Representation of the People Act] comports with the Constitution. If they say ‘yes’, then we lose; and if they say ‘no’, the Elections and Boundaries has a responsibility to fix it, because the Elections and Boundaries [has] no right to run [an illegal election]. I’ll give you an example: the Elections and Boundaries [is] mandated by the Constitution to run elections; no one else under the Constitution can run an election in Belize—not the executive, they can’t hire anybody else; it is the Elections and Boundaries Commission that must run the elections. They cannot take anything, any schedule, to run the elections; it must be by Schedule 1; that is what our Constitution [says]. It is like this: the prime minister cannot give the Elections and Boundaries Commission an illegal order,” he said.

Attorney Sharon Pitts is representing the BPM, and was present at Tuesday’s press conference.