Very clearly, voters countrywide signalled to the Government that they were in favour of an Elected Senate. Of the 73,213 votes cast in the referendum, 45,057 or 61.54% said YES. This represents 5,000 more votes than was cast for the UDP countrywide, so Dean Barrow’s silence on the results is a slap on the face of the majority of Belizeans.

Some in the government have been saying that 73,213 is less than half of the registered electors, so the referendum can be ignored. However, by that same logic, the UDP, which received only 68,250 votes, got only 43% of the registered electors to vote for them and thus that result should be ignored. It sounds foolish, and indeed it is.

What the 73,000 plus should be compared against is the total number of votes cast countrywide (121,168). When looked at through that lens, we see that, in reality, 60.4% of the voters who turned out on Election Day also voted in the referendum, and of those referendum votes, an overwhelming majority said YES.

If Dean Barrow will not listen to the people on such an important issue of democracy and governance, what is to say he will listen to us on any issue? The elected senate goes beyond the campaign promise of one political party, and received support from many sectors of Belizean society.  Two of the advocates of the elected senate are now ‘appointed’ Senators. Hopefully, they will use their position to champion the cause of election, rather than selection.

It is clear that the UDP is not serious about reform. They want to maintain the status quo and keep the power firmly in their hands. What the voters said in clear terms on February 7th is that power, all power, should be in the hands of the people.