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The Two Sides of the Re-Districting Argument
posted (March 6, 2020)
Today's case management conference gave us an opportunity to talk with Bobby Lopez, the Chairman of the Belize Peace Movement, about a few of concerns that the Doug Singh, the Chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, has raised about their lawsuit.

2 weeks ago, Chairman Singh granted us an extended interview, discussing why he thinks the claimants have unfairly criticized the Commission for the fact a redistricting exercise still hasn't been done.

Tonight, we have the point and counterpoints that both men have made about Chairman Singh's assertion that the Claimants are partly to blame for the delay in carrying out a redistricting. Here's what they had to say on that topic, as well as their disagreement about the length of time it would take to actually carry out the exercise:

Doug Singh - Chairman, E & B Commission
"Right, you're looking at 17 months. But, let's assume you were able to truncate that to half the time to eight months, or seven months, or six months for that matter. Let's assume that the resources existed. The ability to actually get the work done in three months and then take it to the National Assembly and wait the three months period before it can be voted and assume it would pass. Because, it would require a certain supra-majority for it to be passed in the National Assembly, which means that both members of both parties would have to support this kind of amendment. The implementation would actually be a nightmare."

Roberto "Bobby" Lopez - Claimant, Belize Peace Movement
"From the last time that we did a redistricting - and it wasn't really a complete redistricting - technology has improved. We have been informed that a redistricting in this age could take nothing more than a week. In fact, one of the experts we spoke to - it's all technology now. He said, you'd be surprised how we could actually do it in hours, once all the information is in there. We have almost all the information, just coming out of a re-registration, except for the corrupting of the list in the transfer months that took place,"

"We do not agree. Categorically, we refute what the chairman is saying, and I think he knows that. I think he is being disingenuous by what he is saying."

Doug Singh - Chairman, E & B Commission
"If you look at some of the positions that the claimants had made, I have to concede it. Are constituencies disproportionately aligned at this point? The answer is yes. It was aligned in 2015 when the commission made the decision to undertake a redivisioning. My difficulty with the petitioners is that they're saying that we have failed to conduct this exercise and indeed we have. But we failed to conduct the exercise because when we tried to conduct the exercise it was an outcry by these very claimers, that said: no, do not do a redivisioning, do a reregistration first before you do a redivisioning."

Roberto "Bobby" Lopez
"It's a matter of which comes first, the horse, or the cart. We felt that you needed to reregister first, then with that information, you then redistrict. How can you redistrict, and then re-register when you don't know what you have. No, no, no. That is totally absurd. Come on, Mr. Chairman."

Doug Singh
"In my mind, the exercise should be conducted immediately after the next general election. And that's my position. That's not United Democratic Party's position and I don't believe that that's the People's United Party's position. I don't know that they would agree to what I just said. From a logical standpoint, it seems to me that immediately after the election, you have a fair idea of how many people, you know who has reregistered, you know where they are. So, you're in a very good position to re-split that up."

Roberto "Bobby" Lopez
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I - again, I'd like to invite the Elections and Boundaries to sit with the Peace Movement and have us give them a presentation that we've been doing in the media. I believe Open Your Eyes next week has invited us on. We were on Love FM this week. We've been on Plus and Krem, and now, we're going countrywide. That presentation clearly lays out what it is that we're doing, why it is that we're doing it, and why it is necessary. I invite the chairman, allow us to come in, and give the commission this presentation, and show you from the information that you have right there, why it is that we're going through this exercise."

When the case goes back to court next week, we'll be there to tell you how it goes.

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