You should be preparing for next week Wednesday, when all registered Belizean voters will be able to vote Yes Or No to the ICJ.
But, while you get ready to cast your vote, the attorneys for the Government and the Opposition Party are still locked in a legal battle before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin over the 2008 Special Agreement. The PUP aren't backing down on their lawsuit just because the government has passed a new law which enables them to have a referendum next week. That case went back before the Chief Justice today for a case management hearing, and it was expected that Government attorney Lisa Shoman would follow through with her application to lift the injunction granted to the PUP at the beginning of April. That's the injunction which forced the Barrow Administration to postpone the referendum which was scheduled for April 10th.
From the Government's perspective, the injunction which stopped them from pushing forward with the April 10th referendum no longer has any effect.
So, today before the Chief Justice, Shoman applied to the court to get it lifted. The morning session of this court hearing was brief, and coming out of it, Shoman spoke with the media about the court's reception of that application:
Lisa Shoman, SC - Attorney for GOB
"Just as a matter of formality to clean up the issue, we have applied for the discharge of the injunction. It is our position, and we believe, that there is no longer any proposed referendum that can or will be held under the writs of referendum issued by the Governor General for the 10th of April. Obviously both the request which were issued are for specific dates, and those no longer exist. You heard in court Mr. Courtenay saying they are not disputing the factual basis that we claim, which is that these writs were for a specific date, and that also, the new writs which have been issued has nothing with the Referendum Act, or anything that was really challenged in this claim. It's under a new law, and so, our position is that the injunction would not in any case affect this claim. But in order to try and ensure that we have formality, what we've done is to apply to discharge it. Mr. Courtenay is taking a technical objection on the basis that there is an appeal on the matter. In fact, we applied for an appeal on the matter. We put in notice of application, taking issue with the Chief Justice's determination that there was a serious question to be tried on the writs, and also that the granting of the injunction shouldn't have been done. So, what we'll do now is since we've just gotten those technical objections from Mr. Courtenay this morning, take a little time, and come back and address the issue this afternoon."
"We are convinced that the injunction does not, and cannot, and would not apply to the new referendum."
Reporter
"So, it doesn't get the way of the Government holding this one."
Lisa Shoman, SC
"No, it does not, and the Government holding the referendum on May 8th has nothing to do with this claim."
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