There Is Nothing Illegal About Nomination Day Victories

Attorney General Anthony Sylvestre used to be a politician before becoming the chief attorney for the Government of Belize. Today, we asked him about the automatic wins given to Anthony Mahler and Henry Charles Usher after their opponents didn’t show up on Nomination Day. Sylvestre shared what the constitution says about this situation and reflected on his own experiences as a political candidate.

 

Anthony Sylvestre, Former Electoral Candidate

“You will appreciate that the law takes cognizance of the fact that you will have such occurrences where a person may have initially had the thought process to run, to contest an election and they change. I can say, as you indicated, I have been in the belly of the beast. In my previous life I contested an election against no less than the then prime minister. I can tell you it is a daunting, extremely overwhelming experience. One has to factor and weigh all of those things before one even sets out and aspires to do that. It is a very difficult decision-making process and I am sure the gentlemen may have had their reason why they did what they did. The law and the constitution take cognizant the fact you can have someone be elected without an election. It can be said there fore that there is something untoward or illegal about that. It is just the nature of democracy.”