By Dylan Vernon, TIME COME #21, 26 February 2025.
IN two weeks, Belize will successfully execute its tenth general election and seventh peaceful change of government since 1984. Ninety candidates are in the race for 31 golden tickets. Election apathy seems higher than in recent memory. This is largely because the incumbent People’s United Party (PUP), boasting accomplishments, is likely to win even bigger majorities than its 26-5 majority in 2020. Two of its candidates have already won before the voting begins! The divided and anemic Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) is offering no serious electoral challenge in most divisions – and have two candidates running in several. Sadly, like most past general elections, the voters are not being offered substantive choices. There are no informed debates on long-term visions or competing innovative public policies to address persistent social, economic and governance challenges. The real choices, for too many, boil down to which candidates and which party have the biggest and best-oiled handout machine. Like all past elections, 2025 will be another microcosm of the good, the bad and the ugly about elections in Belize.
The Good
Aplausos! “Belize enjoys a mature democracy and a well-functioning electoral process.” Such was the conclusion of Commonwealth Election Observers in 2008, and we can expect similar blanket assessments in 2025.… Read the rest...
At 11:45 pm on a cool 2025 election night, the final constituency result is in. Post-independence political history is made. It’s a clean sweep for the Blues! The PUP 31, the UDP 0. Amid the wild celebrations and the deep despair, a still energetic Jules Vasquez asks his tired panel: So, there is no Leader of the Opposition? Who will appoint the Opposition’s three senators? Who will chair the Joint Public Accounts Committee? Who will appoint Opposition members to such bodies as the Belize Advisory Council and the Elections and Boundaries Commission? With whom will the PM consult or seek concurrence when the Constitution so demands? 
I live on hill where it blows and it snows. So, I crave a place with no need for ploughs. Perhaps a warm isthmus with a nice quiet Christmas. To catch some warm breeze and escape the deep freeze. My mutt Max says, ‘let’s do Belize’. Hmmmm? But is it just what he heard from that migratory bird? That Belize now has tons of free turkeys and hams. Free turkeys and hams! Is it but a scam? The Grinch knows what to do! Trusting Max nor A.I., I will employ a good spy. Christmas in Belize? Do I go, or abort? Well, let me first read my intel report.
A curious thing happened when I applied in July 2024 to transfer my voter registration to the constituency of my current residence. As I was leaving the elections office, a woman in the waiting area demanded a copy of my receipt and proceeded to fire off personal questions. I had seen her do the same thing to other people who provided the requested information – ostensible thinking it was all official. It took me a few seconds to realise something was off. I asked her if this was an official part of the transfer process, and she answered ‘yes’ without hesitation. I asked the registering officer if this was true, and the answer was a quiet but clear ‘no’. The woman was actually a paid partisan operative, one of many in every division nationwide collecting transfer and registration data on voters. The blatant deception really ticked me off. More substantively, it reminded me of the deep-rooted fraud of illicit voter transfers that pollutes Belize’s electoral democracy every summer.