We're now down to just days before the municipal elections and this is when the political operators in both PUP and UDP camps turn up the panic.

The PUP sure did that today when it sent the Chief Elections Officer a three page letter expressing grave concerns about the Belize City Returning Officer's decision to simultaneously count the city's 85 ballot boxes at 10 different counting stations. They are usually done in aggregate at the ITVET compound, but returning officer Hugo Miranda decided to do it differently. He told the political parties that he will oversee operations from the Elections and Boundaries office. But the PUP says that the letter of the law requires that as returning officer he has to unseal all the boxes himself – and can't delegate counting clerks to do it at the ten counting stations.

Now, Miranda's approach is far more efficient, and it would mean that the counting in Belize City would be finished possibly as early as 10:00 pm – when normally it finishes until morning of the following day.

But the PUP warns that, quote, "the counting process…is rife with possibility for confusion, chaos, mistake and inaccuracy" end quote, and calls on Returning Officer Miranda not to go ahead with his plan.

We spoke with Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai this evening and she told us that her office sent a list of all ten counting stations to the PUP on the 17th of February – and the party made no objection. Tamai says that the plan set up by Returning Officer Miranda is sound, and will ensure accurate and speedy results in Belize city. She added that it was also counted using this method in 2009. She also stressed that it is expressly legal under the principal act for Miranda to delegate counting clerks to assist in the conduct of his duties, and that they shall have all the powers.

And while she was precise on that, Tamai could not make any specific comment on a breathless complaint coming out of the UDP in Cayo about their returning officer. He is Lennox Bradley, the chief Engineer at the Ministry of Works. They claim he had lunch today with Dan Silva, the PUP Standard Bearer for Cayo Central. Now, we live in a free country, and it's also a small country where people of all different backgrounds rub shoulders on the regular. But the UDP in Cayo say that it gives the appearance of bias – and some unofficial operators we spoke to say they will push for him to be removed.

The Chief Elections officer said she only heard the complaint verbally and can only consider it if and when she gets it in writing.