| Redistricting Challenge Goes To Court, Can they Stop The Election? |
| Wed, February 12, 2025 |
|
Can Jerry Enriquez and his attorney Anand Ramlogan hold off a general election until a redirecting exercise is held? Well that's what they were in the High Court today trying to do. It was an upstream swim for Ramlogan who was trying basically to ask the court to force the Prime Minister to reverse the advice he had given the governor general to dissolve the parliament and issue a writ of election. That's never been done in Belize and Ramlogan, who appeared virtually, urged Justice Tawanda Hondora to grant an urgent interim injunction to stop what he calls an unconstitutional and illegal election. He argued that Belize should have an election in compliance with the constitution - which requires that the 31 constituencies be nearly equal to each other. Right now - they are severely uneven, with some like Mesopotamia having 2500 voters while others like Stann Creek West have more than 10,000.
But, now that the election has been called - there's only so much the court can do - and that's why Ramlogan argued for four hours trying to convince the judge. In the afternoon, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay appeared for the Attorney General and argued that the application should be dismissed and the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the application. He said they have applied for it, not at the 11th hour, but at a minute past midnight. Up to news time arguments were continuing - and we'll have an interview from the courthouse later on.
|
