Court Win for Briceno Administration: High Court Upholds Redistricting Report

The Briceno Administration won a round in court as it relates to the redistricting matter. On Thursday, High Court Justice Nadine Nabie ruled that the Elections and Boundaries Commission did comply with the consent order when they provided a redistricting report. The ruling was in response to an application filed by the Belize Peace Movement to strike out the current boundaries of the electoral divisions.  Back in May, the movement argued that the Redistricting Report prepared and submitted by the Elections and Boundaries Commission to the National Assembly in July 2023 did not achieve voter equality across constituencies. BPM’s attorney, Arthur Saldivar, argued that Schedule One of the Representation of the People’s Act should have been dismissed by the court. Meanwhile, Assistant Solicitor General Samantha Matute stated the government has complied, despite the Bill not yet presented in the House of Representatives. Justice sided with the government and struck out the motion. Today, we heard from the BPM’s consultant Paul Morgan about the ruling and what it means for the organization’s efforts to trigger the exercise. 

Paul Morgan, Consultant, BPM: “We filed that last year sometime in August and now we just got the ruling on Thursday and that was dismissed. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t, our efforts didn’t bring the difference, deviation from five times the largest to the smallest, we brought it down in this new proposal that the Elections and Boundaries put in front of parliament to two and a half times which is still not good enough. The reason why we refilled this application was because we fear that the government might be dishonest and without integrity as I would say they have always been both sides and that they would find some way to run the elections without undertaking the actual redistricting even though the proposals are made already. So the judge decided that this wasn’t the right avenue and that actually the Government did what they should have done. We beg to differ with due respect to the court. The court did not bring justice to this matter because we in Belize deserve at least what our constitution, the traditions of our constitution provides us which its no constituency should be more than one and a half  times the other. And it didn’t bring finality to the whole thing because from here on we’ll have to go back to court, that’s one option. In several ways we could go back to court in a new filing, we could go back to court in appeal and so on or we could do nothing which its not an option for us, not a good option.”

While the BPM’s latest attempt to force the government’s hand was unsuccessful, Morgan says the group will continue to rally for a redistricting exercise to be held before the next general elections. 

Paul Morgan, Consultant, BPM: “Taking on this burden alone is not the way to go from this point on. We must insist that Belizeans understand what is happening, that means the media, the educational institutions, the financial institution, everybody especially the Bar Association who we need the assistance from. Unions, what are they doing ? Belizeans have to begin to understand that democracy is not a free gift from God. Democracy is an organizational status that we must maintain and those who have power will not give up power so everybody, this is everybody’s job. I would like to call on every Belizean to do something about this because if you don’t the government of the day will not do what they should do to afford us our political right to free voting and for a vote to be equal. So I’m calling on media, I’m calling on financial institutions, Chamber of Commerce, the unions, the educational institutions, everybody please rally in the streets ,rally in your writings, rally in your discussions in order for the government to understand that we Belizeans need to be treated equally, that is the only way development will happen.”

It is unclear when and if the report will be passed by the House of Representatives as it remains before the House Committee.