PUP demands re-registration

Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2017. 4:22 p.m. CST.

By BBN Staff: The opposition People’s United Party issued a press release today informing that Doug Singh, Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission called a meeting of Commissioners.The PUP says that according to the agenda, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss several proposals, which the People’s United Party considers retrograde and flagrantly undemocratic.

The party is urging the government to begin the re-registration process. “Under the Representation of the People’s Act, Chapter 9 of the Laws of Belize, the long overdue re-registration MUST take place no later than July 1st of this year. However, the Prime Minister announced in the House of Representatives, and now it has been confirmed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, that the government will not be undertaking this exercise until after the municipal elections in 2018.”

The party condemns this decision and calls it a “blatant act of political convenience when the national interests and the preservation of our democracy demand that we update our outdated, padded and illegal electoral rolls.”

In its release, the PUP states that the recent revelation of the former director of Immigration, Ruth Meighan who indicated that the results of the 2012 general elections were fraudulent because of the considerable number of unqualified Belizeans that illegally made it onto the voters’ lists, further justifies why the voters’ list must be cleaned up without delay.

The party also denounced any attempt by the commission to carry out a “re- division” exercise since that would only be giving validation to the outdated, fraudulent and padded voters list.

“Furthermore, the Commission is also considering abolishing the issuance and use of voter identification cards. Any such decision would be retrograde and would open the doors to even more instances of voter fraud including tampering with the Commission’s binders, denying lawful voters their right to vote and double voting in some instances,” the release further states.

The party demanded that there be a re-registration exercise before July 1st, 2017 as mandated by law and a re-division exercise after the true number of voters in each division has been determined by way of a re-registration exercise.

The party also called on social partners and other organizations to join  in making certain that their demands are met.

“To do otherwise would be impractical, grossly undemocratic and will only serve as an exercise in political convenience for the ruling party,” it ends.