Could distrust in Belize’s electoral system eventually threaten the peaceful transfer of power? Alberto August, the UDP’s campaign manager in Cayo, says the March twelfth general election raised that unsettling possibility. After more than three decades of involvement in elections, August calls it the worst process he has witnessed, alleging fraud, irregularities and insufficient transparency inside polling stations. He warns that unless election officials address those concerns, Belize could be heading toward what he describes as its last peaceful election.
Alberto August
Alberto August, Campaign Manager, UDP SISE
“We are dealing here with the democratic process of a nation where people go to the poll and elect the government that they want to represent them. But when you have these kind of fraudulent activities it is a dangerous thing, first of all, to practice. In the March 12th general election, it was the worst election that I’ve seen in all my over thirty years of being involved in elections in this country, the worst I have ever seen, and I made it no secret to the Elections and Boundaries Commission that if that continues, that might be the last peaceful election that this country has seen, because people will not be putting up with this total, totally out of order. The reasons why they do not allow cameras in the polling station is because they don’t want recorded the irregularities that their representatives are doing in the office. We were able to record some of them discreetly. But I am saying – allowing a camera in this polling station is good for fairness because we can then record what they’re doing in the station, and we’re hoping that any person who is responsible for elections in a country would welcome that kind of thing so that you can bring forward the discrepancy that is happening, but they want to hide it, and that is the reason why they are banning cameras from inside of the polling stations.”
August argues that allowing cameras inside polling stations would help document irregularities and hold election officials accountable. We note that the banning of cameras is a long held practice.
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