Photo: Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Feb. 27, 2024
A total of 163 citizens have offered themselves as candidates for the Wednesday, March 6, 2024 municipal elections, but only 67 seats are available across the 9 municipalities of Corozal, Orange Walk, Belize City, San Pedro, the City of Belmopan, the Twin Towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena, Benque Viejo, Dangriga, and Punta Gorda. Chief Elections Officer, Josephine Tamai confirmed to Amandala today that they are prepared and are merely waiting for the big day to arrive.
Apart from security personnel who will be ensuring law and order at the 224 polling stations and 20 counting stations, Tamai confirmed that over 1,000 public officers are scheduled to conduct the elections. Tamai also revealed that an estimated temporary staff of about 30 will be churning out the voter turnout hourly updates on the Elections and Boundaries Department (EBD) website at https://elections.gov.bz. This time around, the Department has partnered with GIS expert, Total Business Solutions Ltd. (TBSL), to have an advanced and more efficient product.
Each of the two mass political parties, the People’s United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP) nominated the full complement of 67 candidates, while newcomer, the People’s Development Movement (PDM) nominated a full slate of 11 for Belize City, headed by mayoral candidate Estevan Perera, Sr.; and down south, the Belize Progressive Party (BPP) has fielded a full slate of 7 in Punta Gorda, the home of the Party’s leader, Wil Maheia.
There are 11 independent candidates. One constant in Belize City is Ernesto Torres, running as an independent councillor candidate, just as in the 2021 election. Prior to that, Torres ran as a mayoral candidate. In the 2021 election, he garnered 511 votes. That figure was an increase over the 240 votes he received in the 2018 election. The other independent candidates are Hernan Andre Riverol, running for mayor in Corozal, and Abner “Chamber” Bacab running for mayor in San Pedro; in the Twin Towns, there are two independent candidates in the persons of Roody Wade, Sr., running for mayor, and Juan “John” Escobar, running as councillor candidate; the remaining independent candidates are all in Punta Gorda, and include Orlando Alberto Muschamp and Winston Felix Chun as mayoral candidates, and as councillor candidates: Anthony “Hammer” Gabriel, Yesenia Ramirez, Daniel Sam and Franz Kevin Vernon. The full list of candidates has been published in the Tuesday, February 27, 2024 edition of the Amandala and will be published in the weekend edition papers. It is also available on the Department’s website.
Only those persons who registered by the cut-off date of January 10, 2024 will be eligible to vote on March 6. The polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 6:00 p.m.
The sale of liquor on election day is prohibited up to the completion of counting. Employers are to allow their employees time to vote without making any deduction from their pay.
Counting will be done simultaneously at 10 counting stations in Belize City to cover all 86 boxes. In San Ignacio/Santa Elena there will be 3 counting stations, and 1 each in the other municipalities. Tamai reminds that, due to the large number of candidates as compared to a general election, counting for a municipal election always takes longer.
According to Tamai, the cost to conduct the 2024 municipal elections will run just over a million dollars.
In the 2021 municipal elections, with the vote taking place just four months after the November 2020 general elections, the People’s United Party swept the polls, winning 65 of the 67 seats. The United Democratic Party was only victorious with Earl Trapp, Jr. as mayor and councillor candidate Bernadette “Bernie” Fernandez in the Twin Towns.
In 2018, the UDP won 41 seats, with the PUP winning 26. The surprise then was Belize City, which went blue with mayoral candidate, Bernard Wagner at the helm of the PUP slate. He now seeks a historic third term. This time he is being challenged by newcomer Dr. Nelma Mortis for the UDP.
In Belmopan, newcomer Pablo Cawich is representing the PUP, while Jacklyn “Jackie” Burns returns for the UDP. In the 2021 election, Burns received 1,291 votes, while outgoing mayor, Sheran “Sharon” Palacio for the PUP received 3,016. Burns previously served as councillor under UDP Mayor Khalid Belisle, beginning in 2015 and then again in 2018.
In San Ignacio/Santa Elena, incumbent mayor, Earl Trapp, Jr. is seeking to be returned a fourth time, as he was first elected in 2015. He is being challenged by the PUP’s outgoing councillor Matthew Preston Silva. San Ignacio/Santa Elena was the only split council in 2021, with 5 of the councillors being blue.
In Benque Viejo, Jorge Antonio Rosales is seeking to repeat a win for the PUP. He is being challenged by newcomer Marco Antonio Tesecum of the UDP.
In Corozal, Rigo Vellos is going for a third term, having first won for the PUP in 2018. This time he is going up against Ricardo Ake for the UDP, and independent mayoral candidate, Hernan Andre Riverol. In 2021, there were only candidates from the two mass parties in Corozal.
Incumbent Ladrick Sheppard in Orange Walk is seeking a second term as mayor for the PUP. He had previously served as councilor thrice under Kevin Bernard as mayor since 2012. Sheppard faces the UDP’s Enrique Carballo on March 6th.
Out in San Pedro, Wally Nunez seeks to repeat his 2021 win for the PUP. He is being challenged by Wilfredo Alamilla. Challenging them is independent mayoral candidate Abner “Chamber” Bacab. Same as in Corozal, in 2021, there was no independent mayoral candidate in San Pedro.
Dangriga’s Robert Mariano is seeking a second win for the PUP and is being challenged in that municipality by the UDP’s Hubert Lucas.
Finally, in Punta Gorda, it will be former PUP mayor, Carlos “Obeah” Galvez against Franklin Polonio for the UDP, the BPP’s Anita Nicholas, and independent mayoral candidates, Orlando Alberto Muschamp and Winston Felix Chun. Notably, in 2021, Nicholas was a councilor candidate for the BPP, and she and others on the BPP slate received more votes than some of the UDP candidates.
The PUP Central Government considers this the most important election since the generals in 2020, viewing it as a litmus test on continuing support.
In the 2021 municipal elections, there were a total of 94,890 registered voters. This time around, the figure has increased by 6,299 for a total of 101,189 registered voters. The voter turnout for the 2021 election was 56.99%.
