Injunction Application Filed in High Court to Delay General Election  

A legal injunction to stop the upcoming general elections has been filed in the High Court. Jeremy Enriquez, Rudolph, and Jessica Tulcey, represented by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, have been in talks with the Government of Belize for weeks. Ramlogan wrote to the Briceño administration, stating they would challenge the constitutionality of the general election if redistricting wasn’t completed before the national vote. They also requested a five-day notice before announcing the election date. On Monday, Courtenay Coye LLP, representing the government, informed them that the prior notice request couldn’t be honored. Today, PM Briceño announced the general election for March twelfth. Enriquez told us that his team filed their application through the court’s online portal on Monday night, but technical issues delayed any action before the PM’s announcement.

 

Jeremy Enriquez, Claimant

“Following the letter we received from Courtenay and Associates, Senator Courtenay and his law firm on behalf of the attorney general, we received that letter yesterday evening and so last night when we realized there would have been no warning by the prime minister we worked into the night to file and injunction so we did file in the court’s portal last night, hoping that this morning around eight thirty or so we would have some kind of response. Unfortunately, we learnt that there was some problem with the portal and we had to get some printed documents into the court and so to get four hundred pages took a while and we were a little late in filing. But, it is disappointing but at the same time it shows the country the entrenched system we have. Not only that it is entrenched, there is strong resistance and insistence to have the status quo remain. We did have that expectation for decency and respect by the government, especially that we sent the preauction letter to them to indicate. We also sent to the governor general to say listen, can you give us a little bit of time before so that we can file our injunction. We did not get that response from the governor general, or the minister and they went ahead in a kind of an ambush to get the process done to call the elections without redistricting. But, I am still hopeful that the judges are reviewing the situation and we will see what happens from there.”