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Central Office, Belize City
Registration Offices, Countrywide
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Background There are two Election Management Bodies in Belize, namely, the Elections and Boundaries Commission and the Elections and Boundaries Department. Both Election Management Bodies are entrusted with vital functions and are empowered by law to execute them, in order to ensure free and fair elections—that is the bottom line. The Commission came into being by legislation, Representation of The People Ordinance, in May 1978; and conducted its first elections, the Town Board Elections of December 1978. Since Belize’s Independence in 1981, the Belize Constitution sets out the core functions of the Commission in Sections 88 to 91. The Department was initiated in 1989 after amendments to Section 88 of the Constitution, and the resultant alterations to the Administrative Provisions of the Representation of the People Act. At that time the responsibility for staffing and other administrative obligations were transferred from the Elections and Boundaries Commission to the Public Services Commission. The Department is fully responsible for electoral administration. The Elections and Boundaries Commission by law confers these powers on the Chief Elections Officer and staff. One output from electoral administration is the electoral list, which represents the lifeblood of our democracy. The Department has ensured that the electoral role is accurate, reliable and inclusive. Two other functions that the Election Management Bodies are charged with are boundary delimitation and voter education. Boundary delimitation is the prerogative of the Commission with technical assistance from the Department. Voter education has been an initiative of the Department since November 1999, with the launching of a first publication entitled, “Selecting Our Leaders—Past and Present”. The law empowers the elector to play a major role in the registration process through continuous objections to possible illegal registrants, and by facilitating the investigation process. In other words, the elector is empowered by law to monitor the registration process, which unfortunately, after 25 years, seldom occurs. Hence, the Department’s recent emphasis was on disseminating information on the registration process. We are in the election business, where failure is not an option. In this light, the primary focus of the Department has been education, education, and education—to provide the tools and support needed by personnel to attain an accurate, transparent database and electoral systems; to forge partnerships, share, link, network, reach out to like organizations and stakeholders. We continued to do so in many ways through, lectures, workshops, talk shows, publications, maintaining library corners, maintaining a website, disseminating information to schools, libraries, NGO’s, media, and political parties. Needless to say, the benefits of these are many. Between July 1999 and December 2002, some 7 elections have been conducted and/or supervised as follows:
The monthly transactions resulting from electoral registration were shared with both political parties (PUP and UDP) represented in the House of Assembly. Reports such as the Supplementary (temporary) Electoral Lists were delivered to the PUP and UDP every month. These are also posted, as required by law, in the District Offices and in other public places. As a result, individual members of the public and political organizations are armed with information to exercise the right to object to new entrants on the Electoral Register every month, between the 15th and the 25th. At the end of each month, the Supplementary Lists undergo judicial review by a Magistrate in each District Magistrate’s Court. The reviewed lists become the Revised (permanent) Lists of Electors, and are posted in the manner abovementioned, as well as, shared with the PUP and UDP. The revision process and the sharing of information make for a transparent registration system. |
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Objectives and Performance Targets The Department continues to experience organizational transformation in improved productivity and quality of work. Re-engineering as a key management tool was utilized in creating such positive changes, targeting five areas listed below:
The theme for the Plan of Action for 2001/2002 remains as is—ROUNDING THE BEND: “Maintaining Change”. The aim at quality is continuous as improvement is key. Therefore, sustaining the momentum of change is still a major focus, as is highlighted in the “Objectives and Performance Targets”, which follows. |
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This report demonstrates accomplishments in 2002, showcasing efforts at voter education and community outreach, improvement in the database systems, Belize’s international contribution through electoral missions, personal and personnel development. In addition, Registration Officers, Mrs. Alma Middleton and Mr. Gustavo Pech are highlighted under “Profile of the Best”. The conclusion summarizes the achievements, and outlines recommendations for the next year. The main topics in the report are:
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1.1 Staffing The day-to-day tasks can be divided into four major activities, namely, Administration, Registration, Data Maintenance and Voter Education. Some forty full-time employees are charged with the abovementioned tasks, working from twelve Offices countrywide. Eleven, house Registration Offices located in each district as follows:
Cayo and Belize Districts have the largest number of offices, three and four respectively. Each office is staffed by an average of two persons—a supervisor called a Registering Officer and an Assistant Registering Officer, to carry out registration and voter education duties. The Belize City Central Office is the administrative hub of the Department. The Central Office houses the electronic database system and the national manual system. All electronic data entry—upgrading, maintenance and quality control are also conducted at the Central Office. Newcomers to the Department on a temporary basis are Claudia Flowers, Garfield Fuller, Kimmel Pascascio and Florence Foreman. Mrs. Bernadette Armstrong and Mrs. Pearl Lizama were transferred to Belmopan and Orange Walk respectively. This is the first transfer for both Officers. Ms. Cynthia Castillo was appointed Assistant Chief Elections Officer effective March 14, 2002. She is presently on study leave pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Management since August 2002. Back to menu | Back to top
An incentive award system was established in 2000 to encourage efficiency, professionalism and team spirit. Criteria for the annual awards is based on five pre-de-fined areas namely, productivity, leadership, profes-sional competence and initiative/creativity. Mrs. Alma Middleton was the winner of the “Staff of the Year Award” and received a plaque. Ms. Azucena Castillo and Mr. Gustavo Pech were both recognized for the second consecutive year. Ms. Castillo was awarded for continued outstanding commitment and dedication. Mr. Pech who received the “Staff of the Year Award” for 2001, was recognized as the most productive for 2002. Other awardees were: Back to menu | Back to top 1.3 Personal and Career Development Human development is seen as very essential and hence training is integral in the Department’s strategy and action plan. Besides encouraging initiative etc., as in the Award System at 1.2, personal fulfillment through training has been a priority. One of the Department’s training strategies is to develop the whole person and not only the skill needed to perform a task. In this light, self-development, that is, staff taking responsibility for one’s career development, is very much promoted and supported.
The following are educational accomplishments of staff for 2002:
The Ministry of The Public Service sponsored two seminars at the request of the Department. Belize Institute of Management (BIM) facilitated both seminars, Supervision II and the Power of Customer Service. All Registering, Acting Registering Officers and Secre-tary II participated in the Supervision II Workshop; while Assistant Registering Officers and the Secretary III participated in the Power of Customer Service. One person, Ms. Anlee Moguel, was given the opportunity to attend both workshops. The initial evaluation of the impact of the two workshops demonstrated that most persons immediately transferred their skills to their jobs—positive behaviour changes can be seen in responses to customers and other staff members. Long-term impact will be accessed after the March 5, 2003 Municipal Elections. Several in-house workshops and one retreat were sponsored by the Department and facilitated by leaders from the private and public sectors. One workshop brought together the Department’s staff, and Belmopan staff of the Ministry of The Public Service. The topic was the Delegation of Powers and was jointly facilitated by Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Marian McNab; and Director, Office of The Services Commission, Mr. Justin Palacio.
Other methods of development, though informal, are ongoing. A mix of techniques utilized ranged from job rotation, sharing and learning-on-the job. The latter is not limited to new entrants into the Department, as it also involves longstanding staff members. Some examples are: Learning-on-the-job:
Job rotation:
Job sharing:
Supervisory Visits One of the attributes in managing change is that of inspiring and gaining the commitment of staff. One successful way in achieving this was gto be in touchh with staff, not only through memoranda and telephone calls, but also through physical presence. Sixty-eight supervisory visits were conducted countrywide from January 3 to December 24, 2002. Thirteen visits were made to the south of the country, six to Toledo and seven to Dangriga. Eight visits were equally divided between the two northern districts. The following table demonstrates a schedule of the visits.
Along with maintaining the integrity of the manual database system, other transactions performed by Registering Officers are, registration of electors, issuance of ID cards, change of addresses for electors and the processing of deceased and disquali-fied. The next table, “District Office by Workload”, demonstrates total number of registered electors to date, by number of personnel. The workload in the maintenance of database continues to be evenly distributed among staff.
The next table demonstrates the “Number of Persons Attending the Registration Offices”, by electoral division. When averaged using total number of registered electors, the workload appears evenly distributed, yet some offices entertained more public contact than others. Public contact, particularly, in new registration transactions is more time consuming and technical. The table shows that the Dangriga Office entertained the least (1116) number of clients, while the Vernon Street and Orange Walk Offices entertained the largest number of clients—3,198 and 3,123 respectively. Altogether Registering Officers attended to 23,576 persons in 2002.
1.6 End of Year General Assembly and Retreat The Department’s Annual General Assembly was combined with a retreat on Friday and Saturday, December 13 and 14, 2002. Facilitated by Mr. Carl Smith, Director, Management Services, Ministry of The Public Service, the primary objectives were:
Bird’s Eye View Lodge at Crooked Tree Village, Belize District, was the ideal venue, being less than an hour away from Belize City, yet secluded and economical. A relaxed programme was planned with discussions led by leaders from the Public Service Union, Public and Private Sectors. A bus transported staff, leaving Belize City at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, December 13, 2002 and returning on Saturday, December 14, 2002 at 4:00 p.m. Friday, December 13, 2002 The Chief Elections Officer chaired a short opening ceremony. After the singing of the National Anthem, Prayers were lead by Mrs. Brendalyn Staine. Mrs. Jean Reynolds, a leader from the community gave an overview of the history, as well as, present activities of the community. The keynote speaker Hon. Jose Coye, Minister of The Public Service, spoke of the im-portance of the role of the staff of 40 persons in maintaining Belize’s Democracy. He congratulated staff on the Department’s accomplishments and its various reform initiatives, particularly voter education and staff training. Awards were presented by Minister Coye to the following:
The first Topic, “Media as an Education Tool in Our Democracy”, prompted a rousing discussion, which continued through to the lunch break. Mr. Rene Villanueva, General Manager of LOVE FM presented a historical overview on the growth of the Radio from Pre to Post Independence. He recalled vividly the evolution of direct political involvement, particularly, during the last two eras—namely the public response to the Webster proposal, free airtime given to political parties and in-dependent candidates. He also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of “free radio”, using LOVE FM and Radio Belize as examples.
Mr. Jules Vasquez, General Manager of Channel 7 Tele-vision, in his presentation, focused on why Media are unreliable as a tool for Education. He stated that media houses can only thrive on propaganda and not on factual information. This is primarily due to the nature of the political culture of Belize. He insisted that media as a business are heavily reliant on politics and politicians for survival. After the lunch break, Mr. Raymond Davis, represen-tative of the Public Service Union lead the discussion on the “2 R’s—Rights and Responsibilities” as Public Officers and suggested 10 areas for discussion, which was well received by staff. He also provided handouts, as outlined in the next table.
Mr. Cecil Arnold, Human Resource Officer of the Bank of Nova Scotia, provided some handouts on intervention with clients. After introducing the topic, staff members were divided into four groups, each to discuss one topic. Each group selected a leader to present its opinions to the general body. New leaders emerged when presentations were made as follows:
After supper, a campfire warmed the cold December air. Mr. Smith coordinated the singing of carols, followed by a singing competition. It turned out to be quite a hilarious evening as we all realized that very few of us had singing as a talent.
Saturday, December 14, 2002 Breakfast was served at 7:30 a.m. followed by devotion and briefing. Mr. Smith introduced the icebreaker by handing out pieces of paper and asking persons to think of someone and write something nice/positive about them. The notes were delivered to the particular person, wishing them a Merry Xmas. Volunteers were asked to describe their feelings in one word after reading the notes. The following are some of the descriptions:
The topic “Knowing Our Culture/Knowing Our Customers” was presented by Dr. Joseph Palacio of UWI, School of Continuing Studies. This session was participatory and spotlighted change as an ongoing continuum. The dis-cussion focused on the increasing diversity among Belizeans even as there is increasing uniformity, and identified some elements of social change, starting from the personal e.g. intermarriage, to other levels. This was linked to the onset of other cultures in Belize—the new rich/new poor, new religious groups, new diseases, narco traffic influ-ence—and what these have in common with older cultures of ethnicity and division of gender and age. Lastly, par-ticipants were asked to define the culture of Elections and Boundaries—the institutional framework, the staff subdivi-sions, the values at the interpersonal and institutional level—to look at how it is different and yet the same as before. In the final briefing the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) thanked Mr. Carl Smith for his continued support of the Department and wished him all the best on his pre-retirement. Participants were asked to evaluate the overall programme. The following reflected the exact sentiments of staff:
After the closing, the Staff was treated to Christmas luncheon of rice and beans, turkey with all the trimmings and cashew wine. A delicious desert was served consisting of black and/or white fruitcake, made with cashew fruit and wine. Back to menu | Back to top2.1 Voter Appreciation Day Initiated in November 1999, Voter Appreciation Day continues to be an annual event. This year it was held on Wednesday, March 6, 2002 under the theme, “Voter Education: A Difference in Our Democratic Process”. Each District Office high-lighted two topics from the voter education outline. Belize City Registration Offices amalgamated under one endeavour, that of an exhibition at the Belize City Centre. An official opening ceremony launched the exhibition, with the Ombudsman, Mr. Paul Rodriguez as the Guest Speaker. Similar activities were held at Registration Offices countrywide as per the following District Offices’ Reports. Corozal The day’s activities commenced with a discussion on Radio Bahai at 7:00 a.m. by the Registering Officer, Mr. Adrian Cowo and Assistant Registering Officers, Mrs. Areli Augustine and Mrs. Paula Dawson. The Office was artistically dressed for the occasion and transformed into an information house. Students from different learning institutions and other persons from the general public visited the office and asked questions. A list of questions was handed out to students who wanted to partake in a quiz contest. Prizes were given to first, second and third place winners. A logbook was also on hand for those wishing to write comments. Materials for that day’s event included:
Orange Walk On Tuesday, March 5, 2002, the Registering Officer for the Orange Walk District Office, Mrs. Eneida Vargas along with Registering Officer for the Vernon Street Office, Mr. Francisco Zuniga, and the Chief Elections Officer, Mrs. Myrtle Palacio were guests on LOVE FM’s Morning Show. The related topic was Voters’ Appreciation Day. An initiative from this Office was the preparation of laminated bookmarkers as souvenirs with the Department’s motto. Other materials that were on display on Voters’ Day, March 6, 2002 were:
Officers worked long hours to set up the displays, and were more than satisfied with the day’s turnout. The main challenge was the limited office space for the large number of visitors. San Ignacio On display was a mock polling station with all the relevant information, including polling booths and sample ballot papers. Mr. Gustavo Pech, Registering Officer for this Office was assigned to the Benque Viejo del Carmen Office to assist with any information that arose because of the By-elections for that municipality on the same day. Mr. Emir Quiroz, Assistant Registering Officer held over for the day. Agents from both political parties and three classes from the secondary schools visited the office to see the displays. Benque Viejo del Carmen Although a By-election for one Councilor in the Benque Viejo del Carmen Town Council was held on March 6, 2002, the Cayo West Registration Office held its Voters’ Appreciation Day. One school and other invited members of the general public visited the Office to view displays and participate in the short lectures given. Dangriga Activities for that day included a quiz for students. On display were materials used in the registration and voting processes. A suggestion box was placed for valuable comments. Toledo District High Schools and upper division primary schools attended the event. On display were posters with information on the registration process, and materials used for elections. Fliers were also distributed. Belmopan Posters on election information were on display and flash cards with questions and answers were available as handouts. The Office was decorated with balloons and a banner with the Voters’ Appreciation Day Theme. Refreshments such as sweets and lemon pie were given to visitors. Belize District The Registering Officers in Belize City coordinated the activity at the Belize City Centre. The display of various items was preceded by an official ceremony, which was declared open by the Ombudsman, Mr. Paul Rodriguez. The Chief Elections Officer gave the welcome address and Ms. Anlee Moguel, Assistant Registering Officer for Racecourse Street Office, gave the vote of thanks. Master of ceremonies for the occasion was Mr. Francisco Zuniga, Registering Officer, Vernon Street Office. Despite the persistent torrential weather throughout the day, visits from various schools and from members of the public made the day a success. Back to menu | Back to topTwo brochures were produced and disseminated to individuals and institutions. “The Election Process” and “The Referendum Act” joined two others produced in 2001. Two manuals to prepare Public Officers and Polling Agents for elections, were produced and distributed. The “Manual for Election Workers” was used as a training guide at training sessions conducted by the Elections and Boundaries Department. Voter Education as an outreach activity by Registering Officers continued to be very positive. The following is a schedule demonstrating Voter Education activities by District Office.
2.3 Conferences and Presentations The Chief Elections Officer participated in one international conference and six public presentations, including being guest on morning Talk Shows. A conference entitled “Voter Registration and Electoral Systems” was held in Mauritius, June 17 – 19, 2002. It was organized and sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and IFES Ltd., in cooperation with the Mauritius Electoral Supervisory Commission. The CEO chaired one session entitled “Voter Registration—the Challenges” which was introduced by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan. The following is a list of presentations.
2.4 Newsletter and Library Corners Implemented in 2001, the Department’s newsletter continues to be a communication and information exchange. Initially, it was meant to be an inter-departmental outlet, where staff members are encouraged to contribute; but the content has expanded to include articles relevant to public officers and stakeholders. These are distributed to libraries, the Archives Department, all Elections and Boundaries Department Offices and government ministries. The EBC Library Corner was an initiative of the Corozal District Office staff, led by Ms. Soledad Alonzo. Ms. Elena Cas-taneda, the librarian at the Corozal Sub-Library, was very cooperative and helpful in the implementation and maintenance of this project. In 2002, Library Corners expanded to Benque Viejo, Orange Walk, San Joaquin and Dangriga. Back to menu | Back to top2.5 Services to San Pedro Ambergris and Caye Caulker In 2001 services were expanded as follows:
The abovementioned represent physical presence and includes San Pedro Ambergris and Caye Caulker through Belize Ru-ral South Division. In addition, the Department continued to be cognizant of the need for more services to San Pedro; and therefore, visited San Pedro Ambergris four times in 2002. The visits were made outside of the normal working days and hours for several reasons:
For the Transfer of Electors, six staff members worked in San Pedro Ambergris Caye on Saturday August 31, and served over 300 electors on that day. Leaders of both PUP and UDP of San Pedro Ambergris Caye were very cooperative in this endeavour. The San Pedro Town Board, through the Mayor, his Councilors and staff, accommodated the staff of the Depart-ment with office space and refreshments. Back to menu | Back to top2.6 Participation in Youth Activities
On Friday, November 8, 2002, UB Students sponsored a rally to urge youths to participate in the pending Referen-dum. After a parade through the major streets of Belize City, about 125 students converged on the City Centre to listen to speeches from community leaders. The Department provided the student leaders with posters and brochures for their display booths, and a short training session for seven of the leaders. The staff maintained a stall of educational materials at an all day Fair held at the BTL Park in Belize City on Saturday, November 30, 2002. Senior officers were also on hand to distribute fliers and to answer questions. Back to menu | Back to top3.1 Registration Matters Some 90% of the Department’s workload focuses on electoral administration, with registration matters as the primary activ-ity. Five tasks related to registration matters are, maintenance of electoral registers; registration of new electors; processing transfer of electors from one division to another; processing of changes, such as, change of names and/or addresses within the division; and replacement of identification cards. At December 2002, the electoral population increased by 6.7% (7,681) to 115,595 (Table 1). Four of the twenty-nine elec-toral divisions show double-digit growth ranging from 10.4% to 15.3%. These are:
The high increase for Stann Creek West of 29.5% and the resultant high decrease of -26.0% for Toledo East is directly re-lated to the electoral boundary changes for both divisions. Collet Division experienced a natural negative growth of –1.1% relative to 2001, which was 1.9%. Utilizing mid-year population projection from Central Statistical Office (CSO), Table 2 demonstrates that total electors, as a percentage of voter age population is 83.46%. Although there are nearly as many males (50.48%) as females (49.53%), eleven Divisions are female dominated. These include, Dangriga, Corozal Bay Divisions and all Belize City Divisions, with the exception of Albert. (Graph 1). Three Divisions show relatively small variances of less than 50 between the sexes (Table 2). These are:
Of the nine municipalities shown in Table 3, five are female dominated. These include the two cities, Belmopan and Belize. Benque and Punta Gorda, show more males than females, however, the margin is small. On the other hand, San Pedro Ambergris Caye is overwhelmingly male and San Ignacio overwhelmingly female. Lastly, Table 3 also demonstrates that at 56.4% (65,212), the majority of the electors are from the urban areas. The processing of deceased and disqualified electors was conducted during the months of February, May, June, July and August. Transfer of electors from one division to another was conducted in July and August. Some 5,238 transactions were conducted, 51.5% or one/half took place in the latter half of August. Additional outreach was provided to electors in all constituencies by increasing office hours to the evenings and weekends, and extending services to the town of San Pedro Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker Village. Divisional Lists to September 30 were printed in October, in preparation for Annual Revision. The lists were revised on November 14, 2002 in Magistrate Courts countrywide. For the second time accommodations were made with both major political parties for the provision of three hard copies and one electronic copy of the Divisional Lists.
A breakdown of registration by year of registration is as follows:
The above table demonstrates that 80% of registrants did so during the re-registration of 1997 and 1998. Since 1999 there has been a steady increase of new entrants. Back to menu | Back to topBy-election was held on March 6, 2002 for Benque Viejo Town Council to elect one Councilor, following the death of Coun-cilor Pedro Guerra Mena. Two persons representing two Political Parties were nominated as candidates—Said Badi Guerra Mena for the United Democratic Party (UDP) and Leandra Isabel Chulin for the People’s United Party (PUP). Mr. Horace Grant, Administrative Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Mrs. Caroll Harrison, Administrative Officer, Of-fice of Immigration and Nationality, were approved by the Elections and Boundaries Commission as Returning Officer and Election Clerk respectively. Some 2,012 persons representing 71.6% of total registered voters turned out to vote. Of this amount, 24 votes (1.2%) were rejected. Mr. Said Badi Guerra Mena, UDP candidate, garnered 1,064 or 52.9% of total good votes, while Leandra Isabel Chulin, PUP candidate, received 924 or 45.9%. Said Badi Guerra Mena was elected Councilor. 24 ballots were rejected for the following reasons:
According to evaluation reports received from Election Officers, the counting process was slowed by the tremendous ten-sion in the Counting Station. Furthermore, one Election Officer shared the following concern in a written evaluation on the election. “It is very unfortunate as a Public Officer that we have to perform these duties assigned to us on Election Day. We find it very difficult to perform such duties at present because we are fearful of being targeted…” This election was not without the usual political controversies. An article appeared in the Guardian of Sunday, March 10, 2002 entitled “The Many Flaws of the Electoral Process”. This article came “From the Editor” who is Mr. Herbert Panton. The Department considered the article to be without basis and lacking facts, including facts of law with respect to the election and registration processes. The CEO responded in an article, which appeared in the Belize Times of March 17, 2002. This set off near libelous and vicious articles appearing in the Guardian and Stann Creek Star, written by Mr. Herbert Panton and Mr. Alberto August, who are both members of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. The Department viewed this in the context of the prevailing political atmosphere in Belize. However, the outcome of the elections demonstrated that there is confidence in the electoral process and the will of the people was expressed in free and fair elections. Back to menu | Back to topWhile registration is free of cost, a fee is levied for replacement of ID Cards--$5.00 for first time replacement and $10.00 for subsequent replacements. A total of $9,175.00 was collected (Table 4). The Corozal and Orange Walk Offices collected the most, and the Dangriga Office collected the least. Table 4 demonstrates revenue collected for 2002.
Belize continued to participate in international electoral missions. The Chief Elections Officer attended three such missions as highlighted below, one of which exposed her to techniques in public hearings. 1.
Member Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the Elections and Boundaries
Commission of Trinidad & Tobago
The Members of the Commission listed below were sworn in on February 4, 2002. When not physically in Trinidad and Tobago, the CEO participated utilizing the e-mail and telephone, and therefore, was as part of the entire process.
The Members fully understood that it was not a judicial enquiry, and saw its task as arriving at an understanding of what really transpired in respect of those matters referred to in its terms of reference. In doing so, the Commission strove to establish a proper balance between fairness to persons named, and the public interest. The Commission held its first meeting on February 5, 2002. Memoranda from the public were invited with a closing date of March 7, 2002. The Commission received a total of 72 memoranda as follows:
Except for a few sessions, which were held in camera, the Commission sat in public over the period March 13, 2002 to May 15, 2002, to hear evidence presented in the submissions. Since political parties were considered to be key stakeholders in the electoral process, the Commission by separate communication invited all political parties to submit memoranda and be represented by Attorneys at the Commission’s public hearings. The Political Parties represented at the Enquiry were the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC) with the UNC’s appearance being limited only to any allegations of misconduct by the UNC raised at the Enquiry. In addition to the public hearings, other methods of investigation included visits to Registration Offices, data analysis, sta-tistical analysis and literature review. At the conclusion, record of evidence consisted of 3655 pages and 261 exhibits from 58 witnesses—17 called by the PNM, 11 called by the EBC and 30 by the Commission. The volume of the evidence was such that the Commission could not possibly examine and arrive at a determination on each individual transaction, within the given timeframe. Some of the evidence placed before the Commission, was incomplete and disjointed, making it impossible to come to a finding of fact on specific issues, but cogent and sufficient to lead to broad and reasonable references. The Commission’s approach was to look at the evidence in a broad and sensible manner, and attempt to arrive at conclusions deriving from the particular facts found and from the general “feel” of the issues as they emerged. In the final analysis, the Commission was satisfied that the conclusions reached were justified, in the context of all the evidence presented. A report was submitted to His Excellency, Arthur N.R. Robinson on June 3, 2002.
2. Election Observer Mission to Sierra Leone The CEO participated as an Electoral Observer for the Sierra Leone Presiden-tial and Parliamentary elections held on May 14, 2002. A six-member team including the Chairperson, was constituted by the Commonwealth Secretary General, as short term observers, namely,
The objective of the Mission was:
The CEO and Dr. Akinluyi were assigned to the City of Freetown, while others were deployed to Bo, Kenema, Kono and Makeni. Utilizing a mix of methods, the team was able to accomplish its objectives. On Election Day, the CEO’s team witnessed the opening of Polls at Hastings R.E.C. School, and visited sixty-two Polling Stations throughout the day. The close of polls and counting of ballots was observed at Aberdeen Police Station. Election Day started at 4:00 a.m. Passing through the Kissi Road Area, on the way to Benguema, several Election Workers were seen scuttling around with ballot boxes on their heads, under their arms, on bicycle carts, while making their way to their respective polling stations. At that time electors were already in very long lines, patiently waiting for the opening of polls. Most Polling Stations were under the elements—no shelter, no chairs for election officers and political agents. However, the electors did not complain and were only too happy to be back to the polls after ten years of civil war. The Observer Team was of the view that the election results reflected the wishes of the people, and congratulated the people of Sierra Leone for their commitment to democracy. A written report was submitted to the Secretary General.
3. Workshop on Voter Registration, Mauritius June 17-19, 2002 The workshop was sponsored and organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, International Foundation for Electoral Systems and IFES Ltd. The CEO chaired the first session entitled “Voter Registration—The Challenges” which was presented by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan. Several papers relevant to the topic were presented by experts, making this a very educational visit. Back to menu | Back to top3.5 Adjustment of Electoral Records Subsequent to the report on boundary delimitation for Toledo East and Stann Creek West, in the Annual Report 2001 (Page 35), Act No. 7 of 2001 was repealed and replaced. Subject to the Representation of The People Act 78 (1) (2), Second Schedule Part VI, adjustments were made to existing registration record cards to reflect the new boundaries for existing polling areas and new boundaries for new polling areas. New polling areas are:
Provisional Registers were posted in the Toledo and Stann Creek District Offices, effective October 25, 2002. Notices were published in the newspapers advising electors of their entitlement to make corrections or objections within ten days. There were no objections. In an effort to provide better access to polling stations, the following polling areas were adjusted to become effective Janu-ary 1, 2003.
All records were also adjusted electronically. Back to menu | Back to topAn “Investigation Form” was administratively introduced in July 2002 to strengthen Registering Officers’ investigation ca-pabilities. Due to the rise in objections, particularly in Belize City, the form was used as a tool for a short time. Although using the form is time consuming, in the light of transparency, it may be worthwhile re-introducing. The law empowers the elector to object to continuous registration. However, when objections do occur, the trend has been that:
Circumstances surrounding Revision Court in October were similar to the abovementioned trend, when objections were made to five persons for Queen’s Square Division, in August, based on residence. The objections were upheld by the Revising Officer, and all five persons appealed. In the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court confined itself to the procedural aspects of the case, and therefore, the question of residence was not entertained. Judgment was for the five appellants, and their names ordered to be restored to the list of electors in the Queen’s Square Division (Appeal No. 11 of 2000). Back to menu | Back to top4. THE EBC HARDWARE & DATABASE SYSTEMS 4.1 Status of the EBC Database System Along with registration of electors, supervision and conduct of elections, the maintenance of the database system is another task undertaken in electoral administration. The database or filing systems consist of both electronic and manual informa-tion on electors. The database is important, as it is the lifeblood of our democracy. Each of the ten District Offices houses original electors’ record cards for each division that the Office serves. The Central Office houses all duplicate record cards and the electronic data. A situational analysis presented to the Ministry and Commission in July 1999 suggested that:
Some 62% of all errors and omissions resulted at the point of registration at District Offices, while 38% were errors in data entry. As a result the uploading of data to the Central Office from each District Office, was halted. Approximately 80% of the errors and omissions date back to the Re-registration period, July 1997 to August 1998. Errors and omissions originating at the point of registration are caused by ignorance of the law (ROPA) that governs the electoral process, and human errors such as placing electors in the wrong polling areas, and poor filing strategies in the manual system. In the case of filing strategies, the practice was for each District Office to design its own method of filing. When information was changed, as in a change of name or address, this was often not reported to the Records Section of the Central Office and vice versa. Also the informal organization allowed for entry of names into the electronic system via telephone from District Offices to the Data Entry Unit, without providing proof. A humungous undertaking in the efforts at “cleaning” the manual and electronic database systems commenced in September 1999. This exercise in ensuring data integrity has been conducted simultaneously with the current workload of electoral administration, voter education, and the organization and supervision of seven elections. At December 2001, the integrity of the EBC electronic and manual database systems was approximately 93% accuracy and reliability. Although a great improve-ment over 37% of 1999 and 85% of 2000, the 95% target for 2001 was not achieved. The reason was that the male/female (sex) statistics did not tally with individual offices. Caused mainly by human errors going back to 1997, whereby a female was coded male and vice versa, these were still being corrected for about eleven out of 126 polling areas at Decemb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
