Final report submitted on resdistricting
The final report on the redistricting of electoral boundaries has been sent to and approved by the Election and Boundaries Commission. Building on the work of the first task force, which increased the number of constituencies from twenty-nine to thirty-one, and allowed for a wide variance in the number of voters in each, the second task force actually drew the new boundaries of the constituencies that will be used in the next general election.
A map did not accompany the report so it will be difficult for viewers to see the precise boundary adjustments but it is believed that such a map will eventually be published. For now, what we can show you is the proposed number of voters in each constituency and the changes in the polling areas.
Firstly, five constituencies did not require any alternatives. These are Belize Rural South, Corozal Southeast, Cayo West, Toledo East and Toledo West. The rest break down as follows:
In Freetown, the number of electors will go from two thousand five hundred and twenty four to three thousand and four. Caribbean Shores will decrease from four thousand and fifteen to three thousand five hundred and thirty five. Pickstock will jump from two thousand and eighteen to three thousand and eighty. Fort George will balloon from two thousand and sixty eight to three thousand and six. In Albert, numbers will increase from two thousand two hundred and eighty nine to three thousand and eighteen. Queen Square?s voter list will increase from two thousand seven hundred and sixty nine to three thousand five hundred and thirty eight. In Mesopotamia, numbers will jump from two thousand one hundred and forty four to three thousand one hundred and sixty nine. Lake Independence will go down to three thousand sixty four from a high of six thousand one hundred and ninety three. Collet voters will go up from two thousand eight hundred and forty nine to three thousand four hundred and eighty seven. In the top-heavy Port Loyola, numbers will be cut to three thousand three hundred and fifty one, down from five thousand seven hundred and eighty three. Belize Rural North goes up slightly from three thousand three hundred and forty three to three thousand eight hundred and seventy nine. Belize Rural Central will go down some from Four thousand five hundred and twenty five to three thousand eight hundred and eighty nine. Going up north, Corozal Bay will move from five thousand three hundred and seven to four thousand two hundred and seventy eight. Corozal North goes up slightly from four thousand and nine to four thousand four hundred and ninety seven. In Corozal South West, the numbers go up from three thousand nine hundred and three to four thousand four hundred and forty four. In Orange Walk Central, the list bulges from three thousand four hundred and two to four thousand seven hundred and ninety. Orange Walk North will go from five thousand and twenty nine to five thousand and sixty seven. Orange Walk East will go down a little from five thousand four hundred and eighty five to four thousand six hundred and five while Orange Walk South will move from five thousand three hundred and three to four thousand seven hundred and fifty seven. Out west, in Cayo North the number decreases from six thousand eight hundred and forty one to four thousand six hundred and eleven. Cayo Central drops from six thousand and forty to four thousand four hundred and six. In Dangriga, things stay relatively similar with a slight increase from four thousand two hundred and fifty seven to four thousand seven hundred and thirteen. Same story in Stann Creek West as there?s a small increase from five thousand seven hundred and four to five thousand two hundred and forty eight. But the biggest changes were in the Cayo district as it saw two constituencies added to it. Cayo South was cut in half from a whopping eight thousand eight hundred and thirteen to four thousand five hundred and nine. The new divisions will be Cayo Southwest with an estimated three thousand eight hundred and sixty four and Belmopan with four thousand three hundred and four.
As for the shifts in polling areas, while there were no changes in Belize Rural South, Corozal Southeast, Cayo West and Toledo East and West there was considerable movement elsewhere.
At this point, only the politicians and their operatives know if these changes were made to deliberately favour one party or the other, but since we have seen no complaints in the partisan press, we can only assume that there was enough compromise to satisfy both sides. Nowhere was this bipartisan spirit better displayed then in the unanimous approval of the first task force report.
In what appears to be a clear violation of section ninety of the constitution which says that each division shall “have as nearly as may be an equal number of person eligible to vote”,the task force called for special treatment for the eleven constituencies in the Belize District, whose average number of voters are significantly lower than the average number in the five other districts. This gives Belize District residents greater voting power than their rural counterparts. Interestingly, the new report made public today includes a legal opinion by Solicitor General Elson Kaseke saying that the constitution is flexible enough to accept the numerical gap. Legal scholars consulted by News 5 have indicated that Kaseke’s case is extremely weak and would not likely survive a constitutional challenge. But the real question is why tilt the playing field in the first place? It appears that the real reason neither political party is making waves is that to really equalize the size of the nation’s voting constituencies, Belize City should lose two seats: one on the north side and one on the South. More specifically this would entail the merging of Fort George and Pickstock as well as Mesopotamia and Queen’s Square. That would mean that either Godfrey Smith or Said Musa and Dean Barrow or Michael Finnegan would have to seek greener pastures…a fate that neither party could allow to happen.
