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Accuracy * Efficiency * Compliance * Credibility
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(Continued from page 1)
Included in this year's activities is a poster competition depicting the theme. As soon as the theme is selected, posters and flyers will be sent to all primary and secondary schools in Belize City inviting students to submit entries. Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners who will be presented with their prizes during the opening ceremony.
As has been the tradition for the past years, space is usually reserved for the District Offices to showcase their activities during the day. District Registering Officers are therefore encouraged to participate by submitting their contributions.
The Belize City Registering Officers have begun this year 2005 with a 'bang' leading to May 11, 2005 Voter Appreciation Day. The day will be advertised as a public service ad on the Coca Cola clock in front of the Commercial Centre, Market Square, Belize City, from a week or two before the day itself.
Voter Appreciation Day was launched in November 1999 as a public awareness campaign. This event has been well received by a cross section of the community particularly schools in general. One news media described the May 3, 2000 Voter Appreciation Day, "there won't be another big election until 2003 but that doesn't mean the Elections and Boundaries Department is taking a siesta. Today the department held its second open house called "Voters Day", as part of a public awareness campaign to get Belizeans registered. Every district office set up displays and personnel discussed the voting process with visitors."
The Chief Elections Officer and Staff, Elections and Boundaries Department invite everyone to visit our offices countrywide on Wednesday, May 11, 2005, and celebrate Voter Appreciation Day 2005.
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WHO ARE WE
ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT BODIES
Belize has two Electoral Management Bodies (EMB), The Elections and Boundaries Commission and The Elections and Boundaries Department. Each EMB is a separate, legal entity.
THE ELECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION
The Elections and Boundaries Commission was created through legislation in 1978 and was fully responsible for administration and staffing. At Belize's Independence in 1981, the functions and appointment of the Elections and Boundaries Commission were enshrined in the Belize Constitution under Section 88. This section was amended in 1988. Presently, Section 88 (1) states that the Commission comprises one Chairman and four members, a total of five persons.
Appointment
Section 88 (2) states that the Governor-General appoints the Chairman and the four members with certain stipulations as follows:
· The Chair and two Members: "acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister given after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition"
· The other two Members: "acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister given with the concurrence of the Leader of the Opposition"
Functions
The functions of the Commission is reflected in Section 88 (13) (14) and Section 90 of the Belize Constitution as follows:
Section 88
(13) "The Commission shall be responsible for the direction and supervision
of the registration of voters and the conduct of elections, referenda and all
matters connected therewith."
(14) In the exercise of its functions, the Commission shall not be subject to
the direction or control of any other person or authority and shall, subject
to the provisions of this Constitution, act in accordance with the Representation of the People Act or any other law, rule or regulation relating to elections."
In reference to Section 88 (14), under the Administrative Provisions of the Representation of The People Act, the Elections and Boundaries Commission confers its powers and duties on the Head of the Elections and Boundaries Department, the Chief Elections Officer who is responsible for administration. The Chief Elections Officer is not a member of the Elections and Boundaries Commission.
Section 90
(1) "The Elections and Boundaries Commission shall, after considering
the distribution of the population throughout Belize, make proposals from
the time to time for dividing Belize into electoral divisions…"
(2) "The proposals of the Commission made pursuant to this section shall
be laid before the National Assembly by the Chairman of the Commission…"
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Under Section 90 (1) (2), the Elections and Boundaries Commission is the only Electoral Management Body that is empowered to making proposals on Boundary Redistricting to the National Assembly.
THE ELECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES DEPARTMENT
The Elections and Boundaries Department was established in 1989. Subsequent to the constitutional amendments to Section 88 of the Belize Constitution, amendments were made to the Administrative Provision of the Representation of The People Act (Statutory Instrument 26 of 1988). All staffing matters were then transferred from the Elections and Boundaries Commission to the Public Services Commission. An amendment to the Belize Constitution by Act No. 2 of 2001, dated February 23, 2001, transferred jurisdiction over the Chief Elections Officer to the Public Services Commission. The Department, headed by the Chief Elections Officer, is presently within the Ministry of The Public Service. The Chief Elections Officer and staff are responsible for the day-to-day administration and all phases of the electoral process. The Chief Elections Officer reports to the Ministry of the Public Service and the Elections and Boundaries Commission on a timely basis.
The Elections and Boundaries Department is national in scope with one Central Office, ten Branch Offices and three Sub-Offices. The Central Office, which is located in Belize City, serves as the administration center and storage for all records. Four Branch Offices are also located in Belize City. A Branch Office is located in each district town to serve the other Districts and in the Capital City of Belmopan. Three Sub-Offices are located in Independence Village, Stann Creek District, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Cayo District and San Pedro Ambergris Caye, Belize District. Each Branch Office is staffed with Registering and Assistant Registering Officers. Benque Viejo del Carmen is visited every second Thursday of each month.
Functions
Under the Representation of The People Act, the areas of responsibility of the Department are Electoral Administration and the Adjustments of Electoral Records at Boundary Redistricting. Electoral Administration involves several tasks, which include:
· Organizing and directing the registration of voters
· Compiling electoral registers
· Updating and maintaining electoral records
· Organizing the conduct of elections
· Transfer of Electors
A third function, that of Voter Education, is a campaign that was launched in November 1999. This has been vigorously pursued through various initiatives including, Training, Annual Open House countrywide, Public Presentations and several Publications.
Mission
The Elections and Boundaries Department is committed to the enhancement of democracy through the promotion of voter education and the maintenance of a legitimate, impartial, valid electoral process.
Goal
To encourage public participation, forge partnerships and to provide efficient and effective service delivery.
Objectives
· To operate a professional electoral service
· To strengthen public confidence in the electoral system
· To increase the level of voter participation through voter education
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Rwanda's Parliament Now Leads World in Gender Parity
Women in post-genocide era assert their agenda
By Helen Vesperini
Extracted from Choices, The Human Development Magazine, March 2004, UNDP
KIGALI, RWANDA
Rwanda, the tiny tea and coffee-producing country in Central Africa, known to most of the outside world as the place where one million people lost their lives in a genocide in 1994, has now surpassed Sweden as the country with the highest proportion of women legislators.
As a result of last October's elections, women now hold 48.8 percent of the seats in the National Assembly and the country has come the closest of any country in reaching parity between men and women in national parliament, according to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. In Sweden, women hold 45 percent of the seats in the national parliament.
Of 80 seats in the National Assembly, 24 were reserved for women under the new Constitution. But women also won 15 non-reserved seats, yielding a total of 39 seats held in the lower house and six out of 20 seats in the Senate, the upper house. Women also hold nine out of 28 ministerial posts, among the highest proportions in the world.
"What Rwanda has achieved is by any measure anywhere in the world, remarkable and noteworthy, especially if one takes into account this country's recent political history and the development challenges that it faces," says Macharia Kamau, UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda.
Ten years ago, extremists in government from the country's largest ethnic group, the Hutus, decided to execute its plan to exterminate the country's Tutsi minority. In the span of 100 days, almost one million people --for the most part Tutsis, but also moderate Hutus opposed to the plan, were slaughtered.
The aftermath of the genocide was particularly difficult for women. Rape victims learned that they had HIV after several years, only when they started to develop the actual symptoms of AIDS. And in addition to widows and orphans, many women whose husbands fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1994, afraid to return home, have also found themselves at the heads of households.
History has a role in women's prominence
Women say that Rwanda's recent history is the main reason they have risen to such political
(Continued on page 10)
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(Continued from page 2)
#14A, giving grounds for objections.
Objections to Current or Continued Registrants
On or before the 10th day of February, May, June, July, August any Elector can object, with basis, to Current or Continued Electors on the prescribed Form #14A, giving grounds for objections.
Process for Objections
- The prescribed Form #14A is filled out by the Objector with the following information:
- Name and address of person objected to
- Name and address of Objector
- Grounds for objection
- The Form #14A is returned to the Registering Officer of the specific Constituency or Division on or before the 25th of the month for monthly objections.
- The law (ROPA) mandates that each Registering Officer must publish the information in (a), giving time and date of the Revision Court through:
- One Newspaper
- The Gazette
- The Chief Justice's ruling in Appeal #11 of 2002 requires that the person objected to, be informed by way of a registered letter and not through Political Agents.
The law (ROPA) refers to dates of the month and not working days.
If the date falls on a Saturday as on October 25, 2002:
* The first working day to commence the objection process referred to in (a) to (d) above, would be Monday, October 27, 2002. *
Do Electors Use Their Right to Object
Although conducted every month, in practice objections are usually lodged during the election season.
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Don't Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When we might have won had we stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem their worst
That you must not quit.
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The Winner's Creed
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch that you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a person's will,
It's all in your state of mind.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster hand;
They go instead to the one who trusts in God
And always thinks - "I CAN."
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