We told you last night how the Elections and Boundaries Commission has finally appointed a Taskforce to properly research the possibilities for redistricting so that proper recommendations can be made to Parliament for a full conclusion by next year.
As we have reproted, the value of each vote is being distorted because some electoral constituencies are too big when compared to the smallest divisions. During the 2020 General Elections, the disparity was so large that Stann Creek West had 5 times the amount of registered voters as Fort George In Belize City.
That election ushered in a change in government, and more than a year later, the PEACE Movement is still trying to get a new Elections and Boundaries Commission to address this issue.
The Chair of that Taskforce is Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai, and following up on multiple requests from the media for comment, she hosted a virtual press conference this afternoon. Here's what she told us:
Josephine Tamai - Chief Elections Officer
"We first met with Members of the Commission who appointed us as members of the task force, where they laid out exactly what is the expectation. We had had our first meeting with the task force where the groundwork was basically laid out as to how we will proceed. We know that this is an exercise that - well the planning started a couple of months ago, and now with the appointment of these persons, we are ready to go and start the work for this exercise. The expectation is for us to complete [this] before the end of next year, which is 2023 because we know that this exercise entails several stages. The exercise has several benefits. One of them is to ensure that we have equal voting power. So, what we need to do is to look at the present composition of the number of electors in each electoral division. So, we have to look at our statistics. We also need to look at present electoral maps as they stand, in order for us to determine where the boundaries are, and to see the discrepancies in terms of having persons in one specific area, as opposed to other electoral divisions. We also need to get information from the Statistical Institute of Belize in terms of population. We also need to see for example, where you have growth in different areas because at the end of the day, whenever all of this information is compiled, we have to ensure that people are, 1, able to reach their polling stations on election day as well. So, yes, we need to look at it as maybe an equal number of persons in each electoral division, as the constitution states. But, we also need to look at the entire geographical areas and transportation that is available. So, those are the things that we have to look at. Those are the information that we have to gather from the different sectors, in order for us to ensure that we have a basis to make any recommendation."
We also asked the Chief Elections Officer to provide some insight as to why this disparity has been allowed to continue for over 15 years. Here's that part of the conversation:
Josephine Tamai - Chief Elections Officer
"Yes, this is something that has happened year after year, and the last redistricting exercise was done in the year 2005. But again, because we know that in Belize, people generally move from electoral division to another, we have the transfer period. We have so many different things that happened over the years. But I will tell you - and many of you in the media and the general public will remember, even back in 2017 when there - remember we had to do the registration exercise and the redistricting exercise. Those were exercises that were to be conducted. At that time, a decision was taken to conduct the redistricting exercise at first. There was a huge outcry from the public, even from the unions because I remember - and I can't speak for the commission, but I remember attending meetings as well with some of the union members who were clamoring. And they were saying, no. We do not want the redistricting exercise at this time. We want to have the reregistration first. And that was when a decision was taken to do the reregistration before the redistricting exercise."
Daniel Ortiz
"That explains the delays for the last 4 years. Why was there a delay from 2005 up until 2017? That's still a significant amount of time where our election officials are watching this disparity increase."
Josephine Tamai
"Right, and as I said, I really can't speak for the Elections and Boundaries Commission because I have been appointed a member of the task force by the Election and Boundaries Commission. The Commission is the only legal body that can make those proposals."
Apart from the Tamai who is the Chair, the redistricting task force also includes Crown Counsel Paul Hender from the Attorney General's Ministry; Shirley Humes, a Principal Planner at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Petroleum and Mining; Alfredo Cal, a Senior Lands Officers at that same ministry; and Martin Aldana, a Statistical Analyst from the Private Sector.
