The media also asked the Prime Minister if he was still willing to entertain the idea of changing Belize's referendum law from the 60% threshold, to just a simple majority.
As we've shown you, Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington had advocated for it. The PUPs Leader's former Representative, Assad Shoman, with his considerable knowledge and experience in Belize Guatemalan relations, agreed with him.
The Prime Minister said that he still continues to see merit in changing the referendum law, but he's not prepared to do so while the uncertainty over a Sarstoon Protocol remains. Here's how he explained why:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"We certainly have the intention of amending the referendum act to remove that high threshold. I believe the foreign minister has indicated that the international community in particular the group of friends who's been so forth coming in helping to fund the OAS office in the adjacency zone and the OAS presence in Belize; that group is getting a little bit impatient. They feel that not enough progress is being made in respect to the referendum and try as we might in telling them it's not our fault we are ready to go just about whenever. They do point to the fact of us this high what they view as abnormal threshold in terms of our law; it is their feeling that would make it next to impossible or that any vote on that basis would not be a fair vote in terms of the internationally accepted standards."
"As I've said to cabinet, there's no way we can make such a change while the matter of the Sarstoon is still outstanding. So that's where we are."
Well, once again, COLA completely disagrees with the Prime Minister for even considering it. As we told you, they consulted their attorney on what options they might have to block the Government from doing so. Here's what they had to say on the topic today:
Geovannie Brackett - President, COLA
"We've seen the veracity by the government who is very eager to change the referendum act to apease Guatemala and so we are very concerned as it relates to that and we've asked our attorney to give us an opinion if there is also an injunction, what we can do legally. And it seems right now that legally there's not much that can be done and at some point the people of Belize will have to rise up and take a position and take a stand."
Hon. Kareem Musa - Legal Advisor, COLA
"The initial opinion is that there isn't much legally we can do in relation to challenging Mr. Barrow's attempt to change the referendum law to reduce it to a simple majority. I think that pressure will have to come from the Belizean public. I think we have to see that move by this government for what it is, it is an effort to try to accommodate the Guatemalans to try to ensure that we have a referendum that will match up to their referendum laws. There's no need for that, we have our own laws they should respect our laws. If it is 60% it should remain 60% but again it is something that the Belizean public will have to bring pressure on this government that we will not again bow down and bend over for the Guatemalans and accommodate them in their move to the ICJ."
Currently, Belize's referendum law makes it a requirement for 60% of the voting population to cast a vote in all referendums. If that threshold is not met, the referendum will not be valid. As you will remember, that was the reason that Guatemala pressed the eject button and back out of the simultaneous referenda, a few years ago. Their concern is that they may go through the very tedious and expensive process, which may be invalidated if Belize's referendum threshold is not met.
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