Prime Minister Dean Barrow (Top) and Opposition Leader Francis
Fonseca
Tensions are high as Belize gets ready for national
and municipal elections. In a few hours,
Belizeans will be lining up to make their voices be heard, and will be choosing
which party will lead the next government of Belize.
The last general election in Belize was in 2008, a race which pitted
Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s United Democratic Party against the then dominant party, People’s
United Party. Said Musa had led the country from 1998 to 2008.
Tomorrow's vote will
occur in a “double election” format, whereby voters will first cast ballots in
the general election and then in the municipal election.
The major issues in
these elections have been the economy, and external debt. The
economy was projected to have grown 2.5 percent in 2011 by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America. And also on voters’ minds is Belize’s $546.8 million bond, also
known in Belize as the “superbond.”
In February of this year, Prime Minister Barrow indicated that the
country might be considering defaulting on the loan and that led US rating
agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Belize’s credit
rating two notches deeper into junk territory.
According to Belize’s Election and Boundaries Department, there are
a total of 177,742 registered electors in Belize’s 31 voting districts.
The vote will be
monitored by an Organization of American States team headed by former US
Ambassador to Honduras Frank Almaguer.
Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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