A By-Election in Corozal Bay

Josephine Tamai

Corozal Bay area representative David “Dido” Vega died from complications related to the novel coronavirus, leaving a vacant seat in the House of Representatives.  This has triggered a by-election for which the constitution stipulates that voters within that division must return to the polls within three months, or by March eleventh, to decide who will represent them once again in the House.  With a timeline of about three months, Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai says that they are prepared and are simply awaiting the announcement by the Prime Minister.

Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer

“When a vacancy is created, which in this case, one has been created, a by-election is due within three months of the date that the vacancy occurred, so we are looking at that three-month period to be in March, the eleventh of March actually. And so we are expected that a by-election will be called; that will be based on when the prime minister makes an announcement as to when he intends to hold a by-election. For us at Elections and Boundaries, when it comes to a by-election—well this is not the first that we are going to be doing so we are prepared in terms of having a by-election.”