2020 Belizean general election

11 November 2020
All 31 seats in the House of Representatives 16 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	81.86% (9.17pp)
First party Second party   Leader Johnny Briceño Patrick Faber Party PUP UDP Last election 12 seats 19 seats Seats won 26 5 Seat change 14 14 Popular vote 88,040 57,374 Percentage 59.60% 38.84% Swing 11.83pp 11.68pp
Prime Minister before election Dean Barrow UDP Subsequent Prime Minister Johnny Briceño PUP

Politics of Belize
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Monarchy Monarch Charles III Governor-General (list) Froyla Tzalam
Government Prime Minister Johnny Briceño Cabinet Leader of the Opposition Moses Barrow
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General elections were held in Belize on 11 November 2020 to elect the 31 members of the House of Representatives.^[1] Nomination day was 21 October.^[2]

The People's United Party achieved its first national election victory since 2003, winning 26 seats, while the incumbent United Democratic Party had its worst result since 1998, winning the remaining 5 seats.^[3] Despite the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a recent tropical storm, election turnout was over 81%, the highest since 1998.^[4]

The election also featured the first female party leader and Prime Ministerial candidate in Belizean general election history: Nancy Marin, leader of the Belize People's Front.^[5]

Several high-profile MP's also chose not to contest the elections. The previous prime minister, Dean Barrow (UDP), was constitutionally required to step down after serving three terms in office; having been an MP since 1984, he also decided to retire from the House. His predecessor as prime minister, Said Musa (PUP), also chose to retire; Musa was the last remaining MP to have served before independence in 1981.

Date

The previous general elections were held on 4 November 2015, and the new National Assembly was opened on 13 November 2015.^[6] According to Section 84 of the Constitution of Belize, the National Assembly must be dissolved "five years from the date when the two Houses of the former National Assembly first met" unless dissolved sooner by the Governor-General of Belize upon the advice of the prime minister.^[7] A general election must be called within three months of a dissolution, which meant the latest possible date for the next Belizean general election would be 13 February 2021.^[6]

Despite the five-year term, three of the last four general elections had been called at least a year early. Both Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the opposition People's United Party were on record supporting the reduction of the maximum term of the National Assembly to four years.^[8]

Barrow initially stated his intention to retire as Prime Minister no later than the end of 2019, but changed his mind to stay on until 2020 at the urging of his Cabinet. However, he said that he would still retire as the United Democratic Party Leader at the party's national convention and leadership election, which was first tentatively scheduled for 9 February 2020. He strongly hinted at a snap election in early 2020.^[9] But in May 2019, Barrow dismissed that remark and said that elections would be held in November 2020.^[10]

On 5 October 2020, Barrow called the elections for 11 November, with Nominations Day on 21 October. The Writ of Election was formally filed by the Governor-General immediately afterwards.^[2] He advised the Governor-General to dissolve the National Assembly on 6 October.^[11]

The Belize Peace Movement (BPM), a civil society organisation, filed a court petition in December 2019 for a redistricting process to be held before the next elections. In the BPM's view, the district map in use did not reflect the distribution of the population, leading to unequal representation. As no action had been taken by the court before the election announcement on 6 October, the BPM filed for a Supreme Court injunction on 13 October to delay the election until this process could be completed. The PUP joined the case on the side of the government, arguing that they would lose their campaign money if the election were to be delayed. On 28 October, acting Chief Justice Michelle Arana ruled in favour of the Government: as the election process had already begun and the National Assembly had already been dissolved, the court did not have jurisdiction to intervene.^[12]

During election week, Tropical Storm Eta led to flooding in parts of the country. While Barrow acknowledged that postponing the election would be possible (with the approval of the participating parties), he decided to stay with 11 November as there was no explicit provision for postponement in the Constitution.^[13]

Debates

For the first time since 1998,^[14] a Prime Ministerial debate was held, organized jointly by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Galen University and LOVE FM.^[15] It was scheduled for 28 October, and the rules and format were taken from the Jamaica Debates Commission.^[16] The questions were submitted by a variety of local NGO's, business associations, and unions. As of 23 October, three of the four invited party leaders had announced their participation in the debate.^[17] The remaining invitee, Johnny Briceño of the PUP, wanted to meet privately with the organizers before deciding to participate. The organizers had already released the debate rules publicly; since one of the rules prohibited private communication between the organizers and the participants, the organizers did not reply to the PUP.^[16] Patrick Faber of the UDP then decided not to participate either.^[18] In the end, the debate was held between Belize Progressive Party leader Patrick Rogers and Belize People's Front leader Nancy Marin.^[19] The debate was livestreamed on each of the organizer's Facebook pages, attracting 33,500 viewers overall.^[20]

At the constituency level, the Dangriga-based NGO "Citizens for Good Governance" (CGG) organized a debate on 3 November between the two challenger candidates, Louis Zabaneh (PUP) and John Suazo (BPF). The incumbent, Frank Mena (UDP), declined to participate.^[21][22] This debate was broadcast live on Dangriga Cable Vision (Channel 58).^[23] It was also livestreamed from the Facebook pages of the CGG, Southern Belize Media, and Tropical Vision Limited.^[24]

Background

Retirements

The election was marked by several high-profile retirements. Fonseca had initially indicated that he would not stand in this election.^[46] However, he decided to stay for the last time. Former PUP leader Said Musa also stood down from his seat in this election. Musa, who contested the Belize City-based Fort George constituency in every election since 1974, was the sole remaining House member from before Belize's 1981 independence from Great Britain.^[47]

On the UDP side, former Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega also announced that he would stand down.^[48] Other announced UDP retirements include Barrow – who had served in the Belize House continuously since 1984 – and Michael Finnegan, who had been in office since 1993. Moses Barrow, Dean Barrow's son and Finnegan's nephew, was nominated to succeed Finnegan as the UDP standard bearer in the Mesopotamia constituency.^[49] Veteran UDP Area Representative Wilfred Elrington also did not seek re-election.^[50]

Candidates by district

Results

At the invitation of the Belizean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CARICOM sent a six-member observation team. The team's preliminary statement showed the elections to have been conducted in a smooth and timely manner; they especially commended the election commission's ability to implement COVID-19 sanitary measures while dealing with the effects of Tropical Storm Eta.^[52]

The polls closed at 6:15 pm. With the early counts already forecasting a lead for the PUP, Faber delivered a concession speech on television three hours later, congratulating Briceño and the PUP while calling for national unity.^[53] Election turnout was over 81%, the highest since 1998.^[4]

The results showed the PUP achieving its first national election victory since 2003, winning 26 seats. By contrast, the incumbent United Democratic Party had its lowest result since 1998, winning the remaining 5 seats.^[3] Four of the five UDP seats were in Belize City: Faber and Tracy Panton retained their seats, while Denise Barrow and Shyne Barrow won seats of retiring UDP members. The fifth seat was in Corozal, retained by incumbent Deputy Prime Minister Hugo Patt.^[54]

Briceño was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on 12 November by the Governor-General.^[55] He intended to swear in his cabinet on 16 November.^[56]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's United Party	88,040	59.60	26	+14
	United Democratic Party	57,374	38.84	5	–14
	Belize People's Front	820	0.56	0	New
	Belize Progressive Party	548	0.37	0	0
	Independents	924	0.63	0	0
Total		147,706	100.00	31	0
Valid votes		147,706	98.70
Invalid/blank votes		1,944	1.30
Total votes		149,650	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		182,815	81.86
Source: Elections & Boundaries Department, The Tribune

Reactions

• Guatemala: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs congratulated Briceño,^[57] as did President Alejandro Giammattei.^[58]
• Nicaragua: The President and Vice President sent a joint letter to congratulate "Brother Prime Minister" Briceño and the PUP, invoking the memory of George Cadle Price.^[59]
• Taiwan: President Tsai Ing-wen and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs congratulated Briceño and thanked outgoing PM Barrow, acknowledging the "longstanding friendship" between Taiwan and Belize.^[60]
• United States: The US Embassy commended the Belizean people "for upholding the democratic heritage of the hemisphere."^[61]

Additional congratulations were sent by the Organization of American States.^[58]

References