And, what about testing for public officers who will be travelling all over the country on election day? A record 2155 of them will be deployed across the country - and be possibly exposed to the virus by various means.
There are proposals to test them - before or after - but Maznanero told the public today why he doesn't favour it:
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, DHS "Will public officers working elections be tested before returning back to work, I was asked why don't we test them before they go and work for elections because the trick part here is how will we be able to ascertain let's say you swab the entire I don't know how many people will work for elections, you swab 100 people who work for elections, how will you know who got infected by working the election duties, there is no way we will be able to ascertain that that is where a person became infected. If in point in fact you can have a population of 30 percent of people being asymptomatic, you can then anticipate that out of 100 people in Orange Walk, 30 would be asymptomatic but that might not be the case if you are doing a sampling of let's say Cayo that have lower incidence/prevalence rate. I did get this question asked specifically by elections and boundaries and by the public service union but I have not responded but the gist of my response is going to be while we are able to do that we need to know why we are specifically doing that because I don't think we will be able to ascertain that officers got infected while working election duties."
PUP Kareem Says GOB Is Disenfranchising COVID Voters
And while the government has taken a hardline to protect those officers and others in saying COVID positive persons can't vote, pup attorney Kareem Musa says he disagrees.
He told the press today that the PM cannot be allowed to disenfranchise these electors:
Hon. Kareem Musa - PUP Area Rep, Caribbean Shores "Last Friday the prime minister at his press conference made mention that the government would not be allowing COVID positive patients to vote in the upcoming general election but that is kind of contradictory in the sense that I am 100 percent sure that COVID positive patients will be voting in this election just that they haven't been tested. So, it is definitely discriminatory simply because those individuals went to get tested and their results came back positive, they are now being denied their democratic and their legal right to vote. I heard the prime minister cite the law and he cites the statutory instrument which provides that individuals that are COVID positive are to remain in quarantine and while that is the case the fact remains it cannot function to deprive you of your legal and democratic right. The statutory instrument cannot trump the law under the representation people act at section 7 there is provision for disqualified individuals who are not allowed to register of course that includes individuals under 18 years of age, individuals who are of unsound minds or those who are on a death sentence but it does not provide for people suffering from illnesses like COVID from voting and so we have a contradictory situation here where the prime minister is relying on a statutory instrument in order to block an entire group of individuals, I think it is around 1200 positive patients from voting and so we in the PUP we feel it is the obligation of the elections and boundaries office to devise a responsible and a safe plan for COVID patients to vote. One of the reporters last week proposed something exceptional and that is we should allow them to vote by proxy. I am sure we can get all of the political parties in Belize to agree on the list of individuals who are COVID positive who want to vote, who want to exercise their franchise and if we can agree on that list we can agree to have them vote by proxy."
Ann Banner Could Throw A Spanner Into UDP Incumbent's Plan
There could one more than a thousand active cases of COVID when the election rolls around.
And one woman willing to fight for those and all votes is the first independent female candidate to run in the Belmopan Constituency, But what does Anna Banner Guy stand for?
Her Manifesto, called The People's Manifesto is all about Education, Family, and Youth, with an additional focus on sustainable Economic development.
Guy, once a UDP city Councillor says that given all the scandal that surrounds Saldivar, she considers him unelectable. Yesterday she told plus TV's Paul Lopez why she's the only choice for residents of the capital who don't support Oscar Mira.
Nomination Dance
Banner Guy is one of five independent candidates nominated yesterday countrywide. There were 13 for the Belize People's Front, and eight for the Belize Progressive Party with 31 each for the UDP and PUP.
That's a total of 88 candidates who will be on the ballots across 31 constituencies on November 11th.
Yesterday on nomination day they all had to dance between COVID cautiousness and political craziness. Jules Vasquez watched how they did it:
