BELIZE CITY, Fri. Mar. 6, 2020– The case management for the case regarding redistricting was scheduled to get underway today before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin, but the attorney for Lord Michael Ashcroft, Andrew Marshalleck, S.C., requested an adjournment in order to get affidavits from the expert witnesses they will be relying on. Lord Ashcroft was allowed to join the case as an interested party.

Chief Justice Benjamin agreed to the request for more time and adjourned the case management to next Friday, March 13.

The claim was brought against the government by the Belize Peace Movement, the Belize Progressive Party and others, who are seeking a constitutional relief from the high court to align the electoral constituencies in accordance with the stipulation of the Belize Constitution, which calls for parity in the number of electors in each constituency.

It is the hope of the claimants that the Supreme Court will rule in their favor and the re-districting could take place before the general elections, which are scheduled to be held in November.

Some of Belize’s 31 electoral constituencies are quite disproportionate in the amount of registered voters contained in them. For example, there is a vast difference between the size of smaller constituencies such as Queen’s Square, Fort George and Mesopotamia and the size of constituencies such as Stann Creek West, Belmopan or Belize Rural Central, making equal representation virtually impossible under the present alignments.

Following the hearing, the attorney for the claimants, Arthur Saldivar, told reporters, “The Chief Justice had made it clear that on Wednesday, he’s going to hear the application, as it relates to the experts that the court will consider.

“Once that application is made, and we are made aware of who these experts are, and what their particular expertise is in relation to this aspect, then it will be for us, the claimants, to give an indication to the court whether we believe any particular one, or the other, would be necessary, or none would be necessary.”

Saldivar went on to say, “I am looking forward to seeing the affidavits, and going through them. Listen, the fundamental issue here is whether or not we can have free and fair elections. And the key to that, free and fair elections, is the matter of redistricting.

“We’re all here concerned about the level of corruption in our country. One of the bases on which corruption has become endemic is in the disparities of the constituencies. We’ve been dealing with money politics for quite a while, and money politics is unfair to us all.”

Saldivar added, “There’s a matter before the court involving the constitutionality or lack thereof of the mechanism through which elections are to be held. Until that mechanism is made right, we don’t need to talk about elections. What we need to talk about is the Constitution, and if it is being respected and given the prominence it ought to have, in the democracy that we live in.”

Feature photo: (l-r) Lord Michael Ashcroft and Arthur Saldivar, the attorney for the claimants