UDP’s Omar Figueroa Alleges Voter Fraud in Cayo North, Writes to Governor General

The United Democratic Party’s Cayo North Standard Bearer Omar Figueroa has written to the Governor General alleging voter fraud at the Election and Boundaries office out west. Figueroa claims that almost one hundred persons were fraudulently registered in the constituency during the last transfer period. He says he’s been trying to prove the voters are not from the area but attempts to obtain the necessary information have been futile. He’s now hoping that his letter, copied to several international organizations, will result in the office providing him with the evidence to prove fraud. We spoke to Figueroa earlier today via Zoom in which he provided additional details. 

Omar Figueroa, UDP Cayo North Standard Bearer: “It just keeps being that these new electors are added to the list and with very vague addresses like Stanton Street for example you would see in the most recent supplementary 28 persons added there. Clearly after we do our investigations they’re not from Stanton Street so it starts raising a lot of red flags for us. We have challenged registrations at the magistrates court before but we haven’t had much success because it’s a little bit difficult in many instances to go there and prove that someone doesn’t live there especially when the land lord comes and says yes that person lives there. But we have had to be persistent because we believe in what we’re doing. And we’re very concerned about the numbers that are at play here. If you look at the most recent supplementary list there’s a total of 273 new electors to the registry in Cayo North. That’s I believe the highest any constituency in the country at the most recent supplementary list. Out of those 273 we tried our best to conduct our due diligence, to do our research and we came up with 100 that we suspect are fraudulent. But because of our frustration in trying to do things the right way and trying to get the attention of the courts we decided as well to go public a little bit hoping that the media and some other organizations would come in and take a close look at it, of course do your own independent investigation and look at it and give the merit if it deserves to have the merit which we believe it does. So we’ve reached out. We’ve reached out to many international organizations we believe that it is futile for organizations to come to Belize on Election Day to monitor our elections when the fraud is actually happening in July and August. Not only is it futile but it actually serves to legitimize the fraud when you have organizations come in on Election Day and say everything looks free and fair when it isn’t because the fraud has occurred in July and August during the transfer period.”

While Figueroa awaits a response from the Governor General, he’ll be sieving through the investigation sheets used by the office to verify the registrations. Love News understands that Figueroa took the matter to court last month and was successful in getting the courts to grant him access to some of the information. He explained how he plans to use the information and touched on other aspects of the alleged fraud. 

Omar Figueroa, UDP Cayo North Standard Bearer: “In any given house there has to be a carrying capacity. You look at your house for example where you live. Maybe you can argue that ten or fifteen people can live there but when it comes to having twenty five, thirty, forty, fifty at some point Elections and Boundaries must realize that something is happening here right ? And if Elections and Boundaries can’t make that determination then it is our hope that the magistrate court will be able to help us make that determination because it cannot be that fifty, sixty, seventy, people will register in a small house that can barely fit five or ten people. And if land lords will go to court and testify and lie to the magistrate that so many people are living there then they must be held accountable as well because they are becoming part of what is clearly this fraud. I mean it’s a well organized criminal scheme that must be given some attention. We had the court hearing yesterday right ? And one of our challenges has always been that Elections and Boundaries refuses to provide the information that we need to conduct our own due diligence. They would simply say twenty five persons registered at Stanton Street and if Stanton Street has a hundred houses we have to go and visit a hundred houses. But yesterday in court the magistrate instructed Elections and Boundaries that they must provide us with copies of the investigation sheet and they must do so by Wednesday which is tomorrow. So that was a great victory for us because it would narrow down exactly where these people are being registered at and who it is that is signing those registration forms to ensure that those people get on the list. So we will get a better understanding of the level of fraud, the scheme that’s taking place.”

The matter continues on Friday at the San Ignacio Magistrate’s Court.