The referendum on oil exploration has been rejected. It’s a major setback for the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage that collected a total of twenty thousand, one hundred and sixteen signatures to trigger a referendum on oil exploration, both offshore and in protected areas. The Coalition received the bad news on Wednesday when […]
Fourteen public officers, who had not training on calligraphy, were commissioned to scrutinize the petition list of twenty thousand signatures over a period of two months. Tamai says that in some cases the election officers gave participants the benefit of the doubt based on the similarities in handwriting. At today’s press conference, Elections Officer Francisco […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Tuesday announced early general elections to coincide with the March seventh municipal elections. The campaign is now in full swing and all political parties are oiling their machineries. This Friday, parliament will be dissolved and according to section eighty-four, number six of the Constitution, the ministers will continue to function until […]
The campaign season is in full bloom and the extended newscasts due to political adverts are no less entertaining if not informative propaganda. The fluid situation in Caribbean Shores has been engaging. Minister Carlos Perdomo stepped down after a convention and was replaced by Santino Castillo in the U.D.P. The People’s United Party last week […]
With both municipal and general elections set to go on March seventh, aspiring candidates are hitting the campaign trail. This afternoon News Five’s Isani Cayetano caught up with Patrick Faber, the chairman of the U.D.P. and the Minister of Education and Youth. Faber hasn’t lost in the past two election and he says he is […]
There is mounting tension tonight over the shooting death of a Guatemalan farmer that took place over the weekend. The situation bears watching because there is a new government in Guatemala headed by Otto Perez Molina, a retired military general. It is the first such incident under his presidency and Perez Molina wants a full […]
The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage will not get the Referendum on Offshore Drilling on the same day of the General and Municipal Elections. The Prime Minister outlined the reasons at Tuesday’s press conference saying the coalition had it wrong. And there’s more tonight because thousands of the signatures have been rejected. It’s a […]
Moments ago, Coalition Coordinator, Tanya Williams contacted News Five to say that they have received devastating confirmation that Elections and Boundaries have rejected over eight thousand of the eighteen thousand signatures needed to trigger the referendum. The Coalition maintains that the signatures are legitimate and says it will not give up on its mission to […]
After weeks of speculation, all the tell tale signs were there that the prime minister would call early general elections. There is the decrease in electricity rates, proposed decreases in water rates, Christmas disbursement for constituencies, and seven hundred and eighty Social Security Board housing loans write-offs. Well, it’s now official; there will be a […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow explained why he is pulling the trigger prematurely, more than a year before the five-year term of his government expires. He also indicated he was willing to enter a debate with the Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca if the conditions are right. The P.U.P. and the VIP have raised concerns […]
As soon as the formal announcement was made that voters will go to the polls one year early for general elections, the opposition sprung into action. The leader of the People’s United Party, Francis Fonseca, gave his reaction in a televised statement to the nation, which appears in this newscast. Fonseca says that the U.D.P. […]
The People’s United Party also announced today that Doctor David Hoy will be running in the Caribbean Shores Division. Hoy, an ophthalmologist by profession, replaces Anthony Mahler who stepped down last Friday. This evening Hoy met with the executive committee of Caribbean Shores and got their blessing. Mahler was also present at that meeting. While […]
Tonight’s question is: Is the Prime Minister calling early general elections because the economy will get worse? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
Tonight there are reports that several Guatemalans have been injured and there is a fatality following crossfire inside the Chiquibul National Park. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade says that they have reports of several incidents in the national park and that one Guatemalan national may have been killed, it also expresses […]
At this afternoon’s press conference, the P.M. said he would only take questions about the elections and he spoke about the San Pedro incident in which aspiring U.D.P. Town Council candidate Severo Guerrero was busted inside the Elections and Boundaries Office. The government employee was suspended from her post but nothing has been said of […]
It’s a situation that many would have preferred to stay inside a closet. But since Caleb Orozco and the United Belize Advocacy Movement opened the doors to challenging old law, controversy of a biblical proportion has emerged. It’s considered the Church’s Holy war but for the homosexual community it’s a legal and human rights battle. […]
There are many twists and turns on the road to the next general elections. Pundits expect the date to be called very soon, but one particular constituency has seen its fair share of drama on that road to a 2012 general elections. On the United Democratic Party’s side, a shift has started from Carlos Perdomo […]
There is trouble brewing in the South. U.S. Capital Energy is providing jobs in the small community of Conejo. Employment prospects are hard to come by but many villagers are upset because despite assurances, seismic testing is taking place on land that should be protected. Is it a mistake on the behalf of U.S. Capital? […]
While geophysical exploration continues Deep South, elsewhere in the country there are reports of oil being discovered in commercial quantity. According to Andrew Reid, co-chief executive chairman of Treaty Energy, drilling began in San Juan near Independence Village in the Stann Creek District last Tuesday. Hydrocarbons in the form of gas were later detected at […]
The Millennium Development Goals are a set of objectives that world leaders committed to achieving over a fifteen year period to improve the lives of the poor. And while the abbreviation MDG is locally known, many Belizeans have no idea if the country is close to achieving those goals by the 2015 deadline. So today, […]
A date for the upcoming General Elections remains to be confirmed and across the country preparations are underway to ensure that the registration of first-time voters goes smoothly. But in Independence Village, one man was surprised when he discovered on Saturday that his name was removed from the voters list for Stann Creek West by […]
A single shotgun blast rang out in an alley behind Amara Avenue late Thursday night disrupting a friendly game of dominoes and sending a group of friends scrambling for cover. When the echo subsided, one Belize City man was left bleeding profusely after he was hit by a round to the face. He was immediately […]
People’s United Party candidate for the Caribbean Shores constituency, Anthony Mahler, has stepped down as standard bearer with immediate effect. Mahler won decisively over his opponent Joe Coye in a party convention held in April 2011. His campaign for the upcoming general elections was already underway as banners and other propaganda adorn several lampposts in […]
United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) came to prominence in mid 2011 when, under the leadership of Caleb Orosco, it launched a constitutional challenge against the Government of Belize. Through its challenge, UNIBAM is asking the Supreme Court to declare section fifty-three of the Criminal Code to be unconstitutional since it criminalizes same-sex relationships. While that […]
In its last National Party Council meeting on Saturday, the People’s United Party approved a resolution to reduce the term of government to four years and set a fixed date for general elections, if it were to take office. We put the question to our viewers on Tuesday, asking if they would support such legislative […]
