Constituencies of Belize
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Belize's 6 districts are divided into 31 constituencies. Each constituency sends one representative to Belize's House of Representatives to 5-year terms. This election is known as the General Election. Each person (who is eligible to vote) votes for the candidate they would want to represent their constituency in Central Government. Each political party nominates a candidate, or Standard Bearer, for each constituency. The winner becomes the Area Representative of the constituency, while the loser remains the Standard Bearer of that constituency for his/her political party.
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[edit] Division of Constituencies
Belize's Constituencies are divided in such a way that their voting population be as equal as possible to each other ensuring, theoretically, that resources are equally shared among the country's citizens. Since the last General Elections (2003) two additional constituencies have been created from territory of existing constituencies in order to further ensure the equality of the voting populations among the constituencies. As of this year (January 2007 Estimate), the most populous constituency (Stann Creek West) had a voting poplulation of 6,004 while the least populous constituency (Albert) had a voting population of 3,045.
[edit] New Constituencies
In Belize's last General Elections (2003) 29 constituencies voted in their Area Representatives for Belize's House of Representatives. Since then it was noted that the difference in voting populations between the most and least populous constituencies was rather large (Cayo South then had 8,000 voters compared to Pickstock's 1000+). In 2004 a Task Force was appointed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission to study the matter. Their Final Report was submitted in October 2004. It is noted that the Elections and Boundaries Department has the right to occasionally reassess constituencies, usually after the latest census or population estimate.
Among several things that their report suggested, the expansion of the Cayo District's number of constituencies to six (from four) had the most impact. Later the following year (2005) the law was passed to create two additional constituencies within the boundaries of Cayo. The newly created constituencies are Belmopan, containing the capital city of that name, and Cayo North East, centered on Spanish Lookout.
These new constituencies should hold their first-ever election during the next General Election to be held in 2008. The political parties have nominated candidates for these newly-created constituencies in preparation for the 2008 elections.
[edit] List of Belize's Constituencies by District
Below are the Districts and their respective Constituencies:
- Belize District:
- Albert
- Belize Rural Central
- Belize Rural North
- Belize Rural South
- Caribbean Shores
- Collet
- Fort George
- Freetown
- Lake Independence
- Mesopotamia
- Pickstock
- Port Loyola
- Queen's Square
- Corozal District
- Corozal Bay
- Corozal North
- Corozal South East
- Corozal South West
- Orange Walk District
- Orange Walk Central
- Orange Walk East
- Orange Walk North
- Orange Walk South
- Stann Creek District
- Dangriga
- Stann Creek West
- Toledo District
- Toledo East
- Toledo West
[edit] Voting Population by Constituency
Below is a list of the voting population (January 2007 estimate) of Belize's 31 constituencies. They are sorted out by districts for ease of reference.
Note that these populations are for Belizean citizens who are eligible to vote and does not represent actual population. As of January 2007 the voting population of Belize is estimated at 140,879 while the total population is estimated at 300,000.
- Belize District (BZ):
- Albert - 3,045 - (ranks 13th in BZ; 31st nationwide)
- Belize Rural Central - 3,929 - (ranks 5th in BZ; 23rd nationwide)
- Belize Rural North - 4,320 - (ranks 3rd in BZ; 20th nationwide)
- Belize Rural South - 4,930 - (ranks 1st in BZ; 13th nationwide)
- Caribbean Shores - 4,207 - (ranks 4th in BZ; 22nd nationwide)
- Collet - 3,477 - (ranks 8th in BZ; 26th nationwide)
- Fort George - 3,080 - (ranks 12th in BZ; 30th nationwide)
- Freetown - 3,194 - (ranks 9th in BZ; 27th nationwide)
- Lake Independence - 4,411 - (ranks 2nd in BZ; 19th nationwide)
- Mesopotamia - 3,140 - (ranks 10th in BZ; 28th nationwide)
- Pickstock - 3,085 - (ranks 11th in BZ; 29th nationwide)
- Port Loyola - 3,774 - (ranks 7th in BZ; 25th nationwide)
- Queen's Square - 3,864 - (ranks 6th in BZ; 24th nationwide)
- Cayo District (CY):
- Belmopan - 5,267 - (ranks 2nd in CY; 6th nationwide)
- Cayo Central - 5,704 - (ranks 1st in CY; 3rd nationwide)
- Cayo North - 4,727 - (ranks 5th in CY; 17th nationwide)
- Cayo North East - 4,208 - (ranks 6th in CY; 21st nationwide)
- Cayo South - 5,204 - (ranks 3rd in CY; 8th nationwide)
- Cayo West - 5,166 - (ranks 4th in CY; 9th nationwide)
- Corozal District (CZ):
- Corozal Bay - 4,894 - (ranks 2nd in CZ; 15th nationwide)
- Corozal North - 4,815 - (ranks 3rd in CZ; 16th nationwide)
- Corozal South East - 4,910 - (ranks 1st in CZ; 14th nationwide)
- Corozal South West - 4,609 - (ranks 4th in CZ; 18th nationwide)
- Orange Walk District (OW):
- Orange Walk Central- 5,564 - (ranks 2nd in OW; 4th nationwide)
- Orange Walk East - 4,973 - (ranks 4th in OW; 12th nationwide)
- Orange Walk North - 5,711 - (ranks 1st in OW; 2nd nationwide)
- Orange Walk South - 5,253 - (ranks 3rd in OW; 7th nationwide)
- Stann Creek District (SC):
- Dangriga - 5,046 - (ranks 2nd in SC; 11th nationwide)
- Stann Creek West - 6,004 - (ranks 1st in SC; 1st nationwide)
- Toledo District (TO):
- Toledo East - 5,081 - (ranks 2nd in TO, 10th nationwide)
- Toledo West - 5,292 - (ranks 1st in TO, 5th nationwide)
[edit] Current Area Representatives
Below is a list of the current Area Representatives for each of the 31 constituencies along with their cabinet portfolios (where applicable) and political affiliation. Note that all of the following are also members of the Belize House of Representatives.
- Albert
- Mark Espat, PUP - Minister of National Development, Investment & Culture
- Belize Rural Central
- Ralph Fonseca, PUP - Minister of Home Affairs & Public Utilities
- Belize Rural North
- Maxwell Samuels, PUP
- Belize Rural South
- Manuel Heredia, Jr., UDP
- Belmopan
- To elect first-ever Area Representative during 2008 General Elections. Standard Bearers: PUP-unknown (previously Moises Cal), UDP-John Saldivar (currently in Cayo South)
- Caribbean Shores
- Jose Coye, PUP - Minister of Health, Local Government, Transport and Communication
- Cayo Central
- Mario Castellanos, PUP - Minister of State, Agriculture and Fisheries
- Cayo North
- Ainslie Leslie, PUP - Minister of State, Works
- Cayo North East
- To elect first-ever Area Representative during 2008 General Elections. Current Standard Bearers: PUP-Orlando Habet; UDP-Elvin Penner.
- Cayo South
- John Saldivar, UDP (Switches to Belmopan for 2008)
- Cayo West
- Erwin Contreras, UDP
- Collet
- Patrick Faber, UDP
- Corozal Bay
- Vildo Marin, PUP - Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
- Corozal North
- Valdemar Castillo, PUP
- Corozal South East
- Florencio Marin, PUP
- Corozal South West
- Gabriel Martinez, UDP
- Dangriga
- Sylvia Flores, PUP - Minister of Human Development
- Fort George
- Said Musa, PUP - Minister of Finance and the Public Service (Prime Minister)
- Freetown
- Francis Fonseca, PUP - Minister of Education and Labour
- Lake Independence
- Cordell Hyde, PUP - Minister of Defence, Housing, Youth & Sports
- Mesopotamia
- Michael Finnegan, UDP
- Orange Walk Central
- John Briceño, PUP - Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment (Deputy Prime MInister)
- Orange Walk East
- Dave Burgos, PUP
- Orange Walk North
- Servulo Baeza, PUP - Minister of State, National Resources
- Orange Walk South
- Ismael Cal, PUP - Minister of State, Home Affairs and Public Utilities
- Pickstock
- Godfrey Smith, PUP - Minister of Tourism, Information and National Emergency
- Port Loyola
- Anthony Martinez, UDP
- Queen's Square
- Dean Barrow, UDP - Leader of the Opposition
- Stann Creek West
- Rodwell Ferguson, PUP - Minister of State, Education
- Toledo East
- Michael Espat, PUP - Minister of Works
- Toledo West
- Marcial Mes, PUP - Minister of State, National Development
[edit] History
Below is the chronological order for the creation of Belize's current Constituencies.
- 1961
- The following became Belize's 18 original constituencies:
- Belize District: Albert, Belize Rural North, Belize Rural South, Collet, Fort George, Freetown, Mesopotamia, Pickstock
- Cayo District: Cayo North, Cayo South
- Corozal District: Corozal North, Corozal South
- Orange Walk District: Orange Walk North, Orange Walk South
- Stann Creek District: Stann Creek Town, Stann Creek Rural
- Toledo District: Toledo North, Toledo South
- The following became Belize's 18 original constituencies:
- 1984
- The following constituencies were created:
- Belize District: Caribbean Shores, Lake Independence, Queen's Square, Port Loyola
- Cayo District: Cayo Central, Cayo West
- Corozal District: Corozal Bay
- Orange Walk District: Orange Walk Central, Orange Walk East
- The following were altered:
- Corozal District: Corozal South was split into Corozal South East and Corozal South West
- Toledo District: Boundaries were altered and constituencies renamed to Toledo East and Toledo West
- The following were renamed:
- Stann Creek District: Stann Creek Town renamed Dangriga, Stann Creek Rural renamed Stann Creek West
- The following constituencies were created:
- 1993
- The following constituency was created:
- Belize District: Belize Rural Central
- The following constituency was created:
- 2005
- The following constituencies were created:
- Cayo District: Belmopan, Cayo North East
- The following constituencies were created:
[edit] References
- Belize Elections & Boundaries Department's Map of Belize's Constituencies
- Government of Belize's Official Website
- Boundary Re-districting
