Cayo South four times bigger than Pickstock

The numbers released by the Elections and Boundaries Department as of December, tell the story of the wide discrepancy between the size of Belize’s twenty-nine constituencies. Let me recount the number of voters, ranging from the largest to smallest:

Cayo South: 7483

Cayo North: 6465

Lake Independence: 5676

Cayo Central: 5390

Port Loyola: 5386

Stann Creek West: 5132

Orange Walk East: 5091

Corozal Bay: 4936

Orange Walk North: 4624

Orange Walk South: 4616

Toledo West: 4435

Cayo West: 4346

Corozal South East: 4312

Belize Rural Central: 4070

Toledo East: 4008

Dangriga: 3970

Caribbean Shores: 3639

Corozal South West: 3611

Corozal North: 3510

Belize Rural South: 3285

Orange Walk Central: 3194

Belize Rural North: 3052

Collet: 2631

Queen’s Square: 2544

Freetown: 2263

Mesopotamia: 2089

Albert: 2084

Fort George: 1912 and

Pickstock: 1837

The practical result of the unequal distribution is that the larger constituencies are under represented while the smallest have more power than their numbers alone should dictate. Why don’t the politicians act? To do so would mean that either the smaller divisions, like Pickstock and Fort George, would have to be amalgamated into one–which would mean an incumbent representative losing his seat–or the larger divisions would have to be divided and new constituencies created–which seems to be too much trouble. Needless to say, this is not the kind of exercise to be done on election eve.