And those high COVID-19 numbers may be the reason for low voter turnout for this year's general elections. That's according to several people who responded to our Facebook survey on whether or not they will be voting on November 11. Courtney Menzies has a look at the results of this survey.
Are you coming out to the polls on November 11 to vote for Belize's next government? We were curious, so we posed this question in a poll on our Facebook page on October 29.
74% of the 776 responses said yes while 18% were undecided and 8% said not a chance.
As a Belizean, it is your right to vote for the party who will lead the country for the next five years, so why is it that some people are giving up that right? Well, most participants in this survey said that they simply did not like any of the candidates. The second most common reason was the fear of catching COVID-19. The remaining numbers had either lost faith in partisan politics in Belize or had other reasons.
And for those respondents who are still undecided, the largest deterrent was the fear of contracting the virus, followed by not being able to decide which candidate to vote for. Again, some expressed disillusionment with partisan politics.
Now, turning to the all-important "youth vote", a majority of these respondents, 69%, confirmed that they will be taking part in this year's elections. However, 22% are still undecided. 8% said they would not be voting.
For the 30% of the youth who said they won't vote, or are undecided, 42% stated that their reason is fear of catching COVID-19. The second biggest concern is not being able to choose a candidate, followed by not liking any of the candidates. 6% said they are out of the country.
And what about those who have never voted before? Will they take this opportunity to flex their democratic muscle for the first time? 85% of first time voters who took part in this survey are between 18 and 29 years old. 54% of them will be coming out to the polls, while 21% have not decided yet, 10% said they will not be voting.
So what are the takeaways from all this? The number of respondents who said they will vote on November 11 is consistent with the turnout rate at our last two general elections, which was approximately 73%. Fear of catching COVID-19 is a strong deterrent for voters of all ages who said that they would not vote, or who are undecided. Not liking the candidates or not being convinced by any so far is another primary concern. Finally, the youth do intend to make their mark in this election, but some of them still need to be convinced.
The survey was up on our Facebook page for 24 hours.
