And, finally from the chief elections officer, we asked her how she feels about the robust involvement of the major political mass parties in the referendum. To many, it's lamentable because a non political vote has now been highly politicized. But, Tamai says the mass parties also bring out numbers:
Josephine Tamai
"We know that a part of our culture in Belize people look to politicians to take them out to vote itself. So without the involvement of the political parties I believe that the turnout would not be as good as we would want it to be. Yes, it's unfortunate that the whole matter has become a political matter more than a national matter, but for me as Belizeans it's all up to us as individuals. Things can only happen as far as we allow it to happen. So I am hoping that we take national pride and people will go out and vote despite the fact f a political party or any of the organizations take you out. It is your duty and your obligation to go out and make your statement. Staying at home on that day will not do any good for any individual."
So, to go over the numbers again, there will be about 148,500 registered voters eligible to vote in next week's referendum. That's only 72% of the total number of registered voters that were on the roll of voters before re-registration. 1,200 more voters were able to get on the list because of the four week postponement of the referendum.
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