After a week-long adjournment, the redistricting lawsuit resumed today before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin with a case management conference.
As viewers will remember, Andrew Marshalleck, the attorney for Lord Michael Ashcroft, asked the court for more time to prepare their documents for their expert witnesses. Ashcroft, who is the only interested party, in this case, has asserted to the judge that he can provide experts to aid the court's understanding of the issue.
The claimants, who are either members or allies of the Belize Peace movement, are trying to trigger a redistricting of all those constituencies before the next general elections are held.
Due to the way these constituencies are currently configured, votes from the small divisions carry a lot more weight than votes from in a larger constituency. They say that the imbalance disregards the constitutional requirement for proportionality.
At the last adjournment, the parties seemed to have unanimously agreed that Ashcroft's expert witnesses would be of great use in the case.
But, in those 7 days, the Barrow Administration has apparently come to a different conclusion. Kileru Awich, the lead Crown Counsel representing the Government and the Commission, informed the Chief Justice Today that the defendants are now objecting to these expert witnesses.
The Government is also asking the court for more time to review the court documents related to these proposed experts. They are well within their rights to do so, but the attorneys on the other side say that the Government is stalling for time.
Outside of court, we asked Ashcroft's attorney if he thinks that the Government is trying to run out the clock so that the elections will take place before this case concludes:
Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Attorney for the Interested Party
"No, they've asked for time to do so. I asked them to give an indication. The indication is just that, but it seems to me that they're just buying some time."
Reporter
"Buying time for what, do you think more or less?"
Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"I'm not sure. I think the whole approach to this will be - and you will likely see it going forward - is to buy as much time as you can. And unfortunately, the way the system works, it lends itself to that."
Reporter
"Do you think that they're trying to force a situation where the election has to happen before this case?"
Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"Well, I don't know that they can do that. First of all, no elections date has been set. It doesn't have to be set for some time. One of the arguments that are being run is certainly that, look, we don't have enough time to do redistricting because elections are too close. Our response to that is that no election date is set. So, how can you say that it's too close? And it can go well into next year, which could give you more than enough time to do it. But again, the nature of the arguments being put forward is such that they've conceded an obvious need for redistricting, and just to rely on practical considerations, to offer one reason or the other why not to do something that we all know must be done."
We also spoke with the attorney for Belize Peace Movement about his take on the Government's requests for an adjournment. He told us that he thinks the defendants are stalling because they concerned about exposing the darker side of how politics is practiced in Belize:
Arthur Saldivar - Attorney for the Claimants
"I believe that the defendants - the respondents in the matter - have exposed their fear. I believe there is a fear of being exposed in terms of what has been happening, in terms of the padding of lists, which invariably would be borne out once the exercise is done. So, they're saying now that they want to challenge the admission of experts. The only time that will happen is when you're fearful of what is to be discovered. So, that's my interpretation of the move today by the representatives of the Elections and Boundaries."
Reporter
"What is the official reason or ground for objecting?"
Arthur Saldivar
"Well, the official reason that they have given for objecting is that - they are saying that - well, they didn't give any really. A couple of you guys were there. They didn't really give any reason. They are objecting for objecting sake. They are talking about geocoding, and that geocoding is not the only way that should be used. But, these are matters that the expert will answer."
The next case management hearing in this lawsuit is scheduled for two weeks from now.
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