Figueroa Says 124 Voters on Cayo North List Are Outsiders  

Back in December, Omar Figueroa, the U.D.P. Standard Bearer for Cayo North, raised concerns about alleged electoral fraud in his constituency. After a favorable court ruling, he called on the Election and Boundaries Department to investigate 124 names on the voters list, claiming they didn’t belong to the constituency. Despite his efforts, those names remain on the list. Today, the Elections and Boundaries Commission issued a statement reaffirming that there has been no electoral fraud and that all voter registration processes comply with the Representation of the People Act. They assured that any challenges regarding voter residency are being properly addressed through legal channels. The commission also committed to upholding the integrity of Belize’s electoral system. We spoke with Figueroa for his reaction.

 

Omar Figueroa, U.D.P. Standard Bearer, Cayo North

“In total we are dealing with a hundred and twenty-four electors which we believe are fraudulently placed on the list. In the first instance, there are a hundred and one which was a case stated submission, which means a hundred and one electors in the process of transferring to Cayo North, some were new registrations, but most were in the process of transferring to Cayo North. One hundred and one was held up, because of a case stated. These electors were never on the list. When that submission was made the Magistrate was clear that because of the case stated those electors should go back to the constituencies were they came from. But the elections and boundaries went ahead and processed and finalized those applications. That is a cause of serious concern. There are twenty-three additional electors. These we objected to for the annual review. They had transferred in July but was already on the list when we objected for the annual review. But again, the Magistrate’s ruling was clear, it said that these twenty-three names should be removed form the Cayo North list. The Magistrate actually visited the locus in these cases. There were impromptu court sessions with the landlord and neighbors where they had to swear on a bible that they were testifying in court and it was clear that none of these electors were ever living where they said they were living.”