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With municipal elections less than five months away, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize is demanding an update on the country’s long-running redistricting exercise. The umbrella union wants clarity on the progress made and whether the Government’s stated target of completing the process by the end of 2026 remains achievable. NTUCB President Ella Waight has previously pointed to repeated commitments to address redistricting and the Prime Minister’s end-of-2026 target. The Congress is now seeking an account of where the process stands.
Ella Waight, President, NTUCB: “People have been asking what about the redistricting. We did discuss the redistricting with the Prime Minister from I think last year. The answer from the Prime Minister and his team was that by the end of 2026 we should have seen or we should see big movement when it comes to redistricting, some sort of movement that would show that they are serious about redistricting. If not completed then nearly completed. We have been continuously asking for updates as to redistricting. We have not received any. So it’s not that it’s not part of the discussion we have been having or still having at the congress level at NTUCB it’s just that when the precedents came out these were the eleven demands. There were many more you know ? There were like fifteen or sixteen demands but we had to chose a certain amount to ensure that we do not overwhelm the public and overwhelm our members with information. So we are saying categorically that redistricting is not off of our agenda of issues or our main concerns in this country. Redistricting is very important to us as NTUCB.”
The dispute has moved between the courts, the Commission and the Government for years. A constitutional challenge filed in December 2019 by claimants associated with the Belize Peace Movement led to a consent order in November 2022. That agreement required the Commission to prepare recommendations and bring proposals before the National Assembly by July 2023.
The Commission produced its report in 2023, but Cabinet expressed serious concerns about its recommendations. The claimants returned to court, arguing that the proposals did not satisfy the agreement. In August 2024, Justice Nadine Nabie dismissed their enforcement application, finding that the consent order had not been breached. A separate challenge followed in February 2025, when Jeremy Enriquez and other claimants sought to prevent the general election from proceeding before redistricting. Justice Tawanda Hondora refused the interim relief, and the March 2025 election went ahead under the existing boundaries. There have also been changes in the Government’s timetable. In April 2025, Cabinet described the 2023 proposals as unworkable and said it would facilitate completion of a new exercise within one year. By March 2026, Prime Minister John Briceño was publicly reaffirming a target of the end of this year.
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