Will Redistricting Exercise Happen Before Next General Elections?
On Tuesday, the Belize Peace Movement issued a release to update the public of the ongoing redistricting case, fifty-five of 2019. As we’ve reported, back in July of this year, the Elections and Boundaries Commission presented a re-divisioning proposal which the B.P.M. says does not comply with the constitutional requirement to make electoral divisions in Belize nearly an equal number of voters. According to the release, the commission’s “unconstitutional proposal stands indefinitely deferred by the House of Representatives.” On October third, B.P.M. applied to the High Court for enforcement of the consent order which it is saying has been breached by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. In its application, it wants the court to grant a declaration that the current distribution of registered voters in Belize’s electoral division is unconstitutional and unsuitable for the holding of the next general elections; an injunction to restrain the Elections and Boundaries Commission from using the current voters list to conduct general elections until its brought into compliance with the constitution and an order to compel the commission to make constitutional complaint proposals to the National Assembly. Today, Minister of Constitutional Reform Henry Charles Usher reacted to the release.
Henry Charles Usher
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Constitutional Reform
“That report was prepared on time, they got a copy of that report so as far as I know the consent order was adhered to. Of course, they have a dispute and disputes go to court. What I can say in regards to that particular report and I have said this before to the media is that we believe that it was unfair to expect the Elections and Boundaries Commission to come out with a proper informed report when it didn’t have all the information needed, particularly the census. Section ninety of the constitution says very clearly that they are supposed to be considering the distribution of the population in the country. It does not say the electoral population as far as the constitution that I have; it says the population of the country. So in order to consider the population of the country, they need a proper updated census. What they were working on was a census from 2010 and then population projections from 2010 using a growth rate that we don’t know if it was accurate or not. We won’t know that until the census comes out. But also the census shows population trends, where are people moving to. Rural areas, urban areas which urban areas; the types of buildings that are being built in these areas. We see a change in Belize City where we see more apartments being built more than single dwelling homes. And all of that information will be included in a census and certainly would be able to properly inform the Elections and Boundaries Commission when they are doing that report. The July seventeenth date was a date set by the court. We had hoped that it would have been a date when the census would have been completed already. But now that the census is now being completed, hopefully sometime soon, we believe that a proper report can then be done.”
Duane Moody
“Sir, so does this then kick the redistricting exercise down the road and it won’t be in time for the 2025 elections?”
Henry Charles Usher
“Not necessarily, I believe that the commission has the opportunity now, once the census is complete, to look at the census, to look at the areas of the constitution where they do have authority to act and come up with a report. I believe that the consent order from claim fifty-five was adhered to, the report was submitted. Now, was it a properly informed report? That’s something that has to be determined and I think it’s better to do it right than to rush this process. It’s absolutely important to make sure that he constitution is always adhered to when it comes to electoral divisions and the distribution of the voters.”
