High Court Strikes Out Election Petition Against Punta Gorda Mayor Carlos Galvez

Punta Gorda’s Mayor, Carlos Obeah Galvez is celebrating another victory as the Belize High Court has struck out the petition that challenged the election results of March 2024. The ruling was handed down on Tuesday with the matter struck out due to ‘the petitioner’s failure to sign the petition and tender an affidavit in its support’. According to the court document, these were the ‘cogent basis to the strike out application.’  According to the court’s decision, while the Polonio was within his rights to file an election petition, there were some amendments he were to make on his petition which he did not pursue.  Love News spoke with Galvez who stands by his assertion that there is no evidence of wrongdoing or corruption in the election results.

At the end of March, UDP’s Franklin Polonio filed a legal claim against Galvez and the Chief Elections Officer, Josephine Tamai. According to Polonio, on election night there were discrepancies in the ballots, and the counting. He claims that he was in the lead against (Galvez), and that ‘upon the recounting of the ballots there was a considerable decrease in the ballots allocated to him, and an increase in the ballots allocated to (Galvez).