Preparations for March elections going smoothly
With nationwide town and city council balloting set for March first, the Election and Boundaries Commission today held a press conference to outline how preparations are going. According to Chief Elections Officer, Stuart Leslie, at the end of 2005 the number of registered voters stood at one hundred and thirty-four thousand, nine hundred and seventeen. Between that time and the Tuesday night deadline another two thousand or so new voters signed up, bringing the total electorate to around one hundred and thirty-six thousand. According to the latest census, this amounts to a healthy eighty-eight point five percent of all those Belizeans eligible to register. As for the counting of ballots, Leslie says that all efforts will be made to ensure speed and accuracy.
Stuart Leslie, Chief Elections Officer
?We are looking at that right now, a long discussion was held on that this morning to make sure that we try to get the ballot counting done in an efficient manner. We were proposing in Belize City to try and keep a control over the activities in the counting area, to keep that station as?I don?t know if I?m using the proper word?as sanitised as possible, to count five ballot boxes at a time. But the two major political parties and the VIPs have said that that might be somewhat of a challenge, it might take longer. And so I have committed to revisiting it with our professional team here to run some tests and to see how long it would take us and to meet with the returning officers to find out what is the quickest and most efficient way. We are committed to trying to deliver the results by midnight.?
As for the mechanics of voting, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police, Eduardo Wade, the political parties have been nothing but cooperative.
A.C.P Eduardo Wade, Commander of Operations
?We want to applaud those secretaries general for the various parties represented here this morning. The meeting held here was held in a very cool and friendly atmosphere and we are happy about the compromises made as it relates to some of the items that were discussed here this morning. If that is an indication of anything, it would seem to us that we will be having a very peaceful and quiet elections, and that is what we are hoping for.?
Nomination day has been set for Tuesday, February fourteenth. Expect the usual hoopla with the PUP presenting its candidates in the morning and the U.D.P. doing its thing in the afternoon. In Belmopan, the new third party, Vision Inspired by the People, will sign up its slate over the lunch hour.
