Toledo East by-election cost $343,787 – PM says general elections will be called “at the right time” in 2025

Published by BBNTEAM at November 13, 2024

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Posted: Wednesday, November 13, 2024. 12:50 am CST.

By Aaron Humes: It turns out that the line item 14 in the Supplementary Appropriation Act introduced in the last House meeting and passed by the Senate on Monday was not for a “general election” in the traditional sense of the phrase, but for a by-election – the Toledo East by-election held in July that brought Dr Osmond Martinez to power. (In a sense it was a general election for the replacement of a member of the House of Representatives, Mike Espat.)

Prime Minister John Briceño told reporters that the cost of the by-election to Government was $343,787 and was advanced from Government coffers to the Elections and Boundaries Department. Due to the fast timing of calling the by-election there was no time to bring the supplementary to parliament for approval: “we had to use other resources. So, we are paying back the monies from what we did, we advanced monies to Election and Boundaries, now we are replacing the monies we used for by elections.”

So for those getting hype about a general election, Prime Minister Briceño says to hold your horses – there will be one, in 2025, but called “at the right time” and not to pacify the badly fractured United Democratic Party (UDP): “I know the U.D.P wants us to get them out of their misery by calling an election so they can decide who will be the next leader. So we are going to call the election when we believe it is the right time.”

He reiterated that the Government still has a lot of work left to be done in its final year in office and when the Government is ready, it says it believes it will have the support of Belizeans for a second consecutive term, which Briceño has already indicated will be his last.

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