Belizeans will vote on whether or not marijuana should be legalized in Belize.
The referendum was triggered by the churches and their allies, who officially submitted several boxes of petitions from registered voters two months ago. And now, the Elections and Boundaries office has validated the signatures and the Chief Elections officer has today provided a full report on the reconciliation process of all those signatures to the Governor-General's office today.
We understand that the Governor-General will inform the Prime Minister's Office, issue the Writ of Referendum, and then make an official announcement in the near future.
Sixty days ago, when we met the representatives of the Church in front of the Belize House for the petition's formal submission, Senator Alvin Benguche told us that they had no doubt that the referendum petition would pass the scrutiny of the elections and boundaries. Here's how he and Louis Wade Jr. declared that the Church would be the first to trigger a referendum under the Referendum Act:
Bishop Alvin Moses Buguche
"We have done every scrutiny - and I want to look in the camera and say this. We have done our scrutiny. We have had enough people vetting the petitions, cross- vetting the positions. And so, as far as we are concerned, having all those processes in place, we can be sure without a shadow of a doubt that those petitions can cross any border."
Pastor Louis Wade - Spokesperson
"We ensured that we surpassed the 10% threshold with validated signatures, you see. So, even if a person did not submit their voter I.D. card, but said, 'I voted or I forgot to vote,' their petition was submitted and our responsibility was to ensure that we provided more than enough of the 10% trigger of validated. But every single signature is authentic and comes from a Belizean."
Bishop Alvin Moses Buguche
"I would be very disappointed and I would be very disappointed because as I said, we have done our homework. We can be sure as a church that we have done our part."
We'll keep you posted on when that date will be announced.
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