Voting statistics show inequality of representation

Yesterday’s announcement by the Elections and Boundaries Commission that it was redrawing the borders of four northside Belize City constituencies and two in Orange Walk may have struck some observers as a radical move. And while the gerrymandering, which added voters to Fort George and Pickstock at the expense of Freetown and Caribbean Shores, did have a U.D.P. bias, the real story is the extreme imbalance of the entire nation’s voting system. A quick look at the latest registration figures shows that the five largest constituencies, led by Cayo South, all have well over three thousand voters. The five smallest, however, even after the redrawing of boundaries, all number under fifteen hundred voters each. Pickstock leads the mauger parade with a mere one thousand, one hundred and eighty six lonely souls. What this means is that voters in Pickstock have four times as much representation as voters in Cayo South. This bias in favor of city voters is clearly borne out when the numbers are added up. The ten Belize City divisions count seventeen thousand, five hundred and thirty three voters, or twenty three point three percent of the voting population. The number of city seats in the House, however, — ten out of twenty nine — amounts to thirty four point five percent of the total. The district divisions, on the other hand, count seventy six point seven percent of the nation’s voters, but control only sixty five point five percent of the seats in the House. It looks like the districts are significantly underrepresented… and while no responsible politician would suggest at this late date a total constitutional overhaul, it is apparent that whatever party wins the upcoming election, an early order of business should be a hard look at how Belize’s citizens could be more equally represented in Belmopan.