One and a half years after the amendment to the special agreement was signed, Guatemala's congress has finally approved the document. According to an article in today's Prensa Libre, 88 of 158 members of Congress voted yesterday to approve the decree. It allows Guatemala to hold a referendum on whether its Citizens want to take the territorial dispute to the ICJ. Under the terms of the amended agreement, the referendum can be held "simultaneously or separately," on dates most convenient for each country. Guatemala usually holds elections on Sunday, while Belize usually holds it on Wednesday's or Thursday's. With this passage by congress, Guatemala will now look to Belize to amend its referendum law to allow a simple majority to carry the vote. There's no certainty yet whether the Barrow administration will agree to this.
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One and a half years after the amendment to the special agreement was signed, Guatemala's congress has finally approved the document. According to an article in today's Prensa Libre, 88 of 158 members of Congress voted yesterday to approve the decree. It allows Guatemala to hold a referendum on whether its Citizens want to take the territorial dispute to the ICJ. Under the terms of the amended agreement, the referendum can be held "simultaneously or separately," on dates most convenient for each country. Guatemala usually holds elections on Sunday, while Belize usually holds it on Wednesday's or Thursday's. With this passage by congress, Guatemala will now look to Belize to amend its referendum law to allow a simple majority to carry the vote. There's no certainty yet whether the Barrow administration will agree to this.