Last month, we showed you what Henry Charles Usher, the Minister Responsible for Constitutional & Political Reform, had to say about the redistricting lawsuit which the Belize PEACE Movement keeps pressing in the Supreme Court.
He basically insisted that there is no need for the case to continue. That's because the Elections and Boundaries Commission is already deep in the process of planning a redistricting exercise to try and bring all 31 electoral divisions closer to equal sizes.
Well, according to the PEACE Movement, the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, has filed an application to strike out their case. His reasons for the application are that the claimants failed to file their witness statements when they were required to do so.
Of course, the PEACE Movement disagrees with the assertion that they failed to follow the court's deadlines. Moreover, they say that the court had directed that the two sides enter negotiations for an out-of-court settlement of this case. They add that these negotiations were carried out by the legal counsels for both sides. According to the PEACE Movement, the Elections and Boundaries Commission exited the process and rejected their proposals for a settlement. They make it clear that they will continue to press for this redistricting issue to be properly resolved since it has been ignored for an extended period of time.
