And while that is for some future election, this one right here is going to be the oddest in Belize's political history. And that, of course, is because of COVID 19. As we told you last night, all the COVID safety measures will be in effect at polling stations: meaning wearing of masks, social distancing, hand sanitising, temperature taking….the whole nine yards.
And, most importantly, no gathering of crowds - which is like taking the "party" out of mass parties.
All this to make 180,000 voters get to cast their ballot in 11 hours, which is no small feat. And, across the country - if the election were to be held today - as many as 800 of those voters could be active COVID cases.
It's complicated, but, right now no one can run from the reality, and and Briceno says that voter safety is paramount in getting out the vote - but get it out they must:
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"The most important thing that we have to do is to ensure Belizeans that it is going to be safe to go and vote and that we as a party we are going to be responsible, we're going to take care of them, we are not going to crowd them, we're going to clean the vehicles before a new person gets in. We are going to have masks if they need, we are going to have sanitizers - more than ever people would not want to be crowded, so we have to take those steps."
"The election and boundaries commission through our commissioners have been doing everything possible - they are going to put more rooms so that less people go to vote in one room - they are going to check your temperature, they are going to sanitized your hands, the pencils are going to be regularly sanitized - once you use it you put it in another bag and thats going to be sanitized before somebody else use it or if you wish you could bring your own pen or whatever that you want to mark the vote."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"To get 180,000 people to vote in 11 hours is not simple. We have seen very low turnout in Jamaica and Trinidad in their elections during a Covid time. I think Jamaica was 37%."
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"It is a valid concern, but let's start with the Caribbean - the Caribbean have a history of low voter turnout. In Jamaica in the last election, they had 48%. Belize has a history of high voter turnout and I don't see that changing. On top of that these lists have been purged, they have been cleaned out, so that the people that were on that list generally about 95%-96% lives in that area, so I do see a large percentage of people coming out to vote."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What are you all expecting in terms of let's just say Orange Walk Central? Realistically what percentage turnout are you expecting there with the fear of people not wanting to contract Covid and people who have Covid and have to follow certain requirements, and the second part of the question: What do people who have a diagnosis, but maybe aren't symptomatic, what will they do on election day?"
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"Within the context of Orange Walk Central we are aiming for 80% turnout. Our campaigners are already on the streets, not in huge numbers - they just go in pairs. They have their areas that they are working. They are making the list of people that are prepared to go to vote. We have to do more work. We need to convince those that are not convinced yet about the safety that it will be safe."
"Now the issue of the Covid patients, I earlier at the election and boundaries commission meeting they were talking about having them to go into vote last between 5pm-6pm. Our recommendation is that they should not do that, because that's the last push and those that have not voted yet are rushing to go to vote. We are recommending between 1pm-2pm when you don't have a lot of people coming in to vote. Maybe they should take that 1 hour to come in and vote. A lot of them in Orange Walk is over 800. It's going to be over 4 divisions - many polling stations."
