Specific Organizations Invited to Monitor I.C.J. Referendum

There are forty-three days left before the April tenth I.C.J. referendum and logistics are still being worked out. The Elections and Boundaries Department is still carrying out preparations for what will be a historic day. According to the department, in an effort to ensure the integrity of the referendum, it is extending an invitation to members of organizations which are represented in the National Assembly to monitor the process. The U.D.P. and P.U.P., the Chamber of Commerce, the Belize Business Bureau, the N.T.U.C.B. as well as the Civil Society Steering Committee, the Council of Churches and the Evangelical Association of Churches and N.G.O.s have been invited to appoint monitors at each polling and counting station.  Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, Douglas Singh, and the Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai appeared on Open Your Eyes this morning.

Josephine Tamai

Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer, Elections and Boundaries Department

“Section six of the Referendum Act speaks to the fact that a referendum shall be conducted basically similar to an election. So in regards to the entire process, the process is basically similar where we appoint returning officers, election clerks, presiding officers, poll clerks, counting clerks to man the elections because those are the persons who conduct elections on election day. So we are in the process of doing those appointments as it presently stands. We will have polling stations similar to what we have when it comes to a general election. What we are going to do this time around is that we are going to ensure that all polling stations are immediately converted to a counting station. So counting in some areas will be happening as soon as the polls close and the reconciliation process has concluded.”

Douglas Singh

Douglas Singh, Chairman, Elections and Boundaries Commission

“We have agreed that everybody who is represented by in the National Assembly which means Council of Churches, the Unions, the N.G.O.s and the business community, that they will all be invited to nominate  under their organization to be a part of the monitoring process.”

According to Tamai, the Commonwealth of Nations and CARICOM have agreed to deploy observers.