Why Re-Registration is Important for N.G.O. Community

Osmany Salas

Prime Minister Dean Barrow was dismissive of statements made by the Senator for Non-Governmental Organizations, Osmany Salas, concerning the importance of re-registration to our national political system. While not engaging directly with the P.M., Salas re-emphasized that with the Guatemala I.C.J. referendum coming; Belize must get its house in order and clean up the voters’ list.

Osmany Salas, Senator, Non-Governmental Organizations

“It is very important that we get it right, not only who votes; it has been almost a generation, Mr. President and colleagues, since our last re-registration exercise. A lot has changed. And I am not seeing this with a red lens or a blue lens or any other political party lens, but as a Belizean. We will be called at some point in the not too distant future to participate in a national plebiscite, a national referendum, and it is therefore incumbent on us that our voters’ list is refreshed, has been updated and reflects our situation now, twenty years later; very long time. So to conclude, Mr. President and colleagues, I will just reiterate, speaking to the nation, that we should all recognize the importance of the re-registration exercise.”

Salas also alluded to the re-districting process, asking for better distributed representation by citing two key municipalities, Belize City (which has ten constituencies and forty-four thousand registered voters) and Dangriga, whose one constituency has over six thousand.