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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.

Contents

Division of Constituencies

New Constituencies

List of Belize's Constituencies by District

Voting Population by Constituency

Current Area Representatives

History

References

See also

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, as required by the constitution. Since the last General Elections in 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 the first half of this year (June 2007 Estimate), the most populous constituency (Stann Creek West) had a voting poplulation of 6,142 while the least populous constituency (Albert) had a voting population of 3,059.

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.

List of Belize's Constituencies by District

Below are the Districts and their respective Constituencies:

★ Belize District:

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★ Albert

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★ Belize Rural Central

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★ Belize Rural North

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★ Belize Rural South

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★ Caribbean Shores

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★ Collet

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★ Fort George

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★ Freetown

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★ Lake Independence

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★ Mesopotamia

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★ Pickstock

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★ Port Loyola

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★ Queen's Square

★ Cayo District

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★ Belmopan

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★ Cayo Central

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★ Cayo North

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★ Cayo North East

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★ Cayo South

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★ Cayo West

★ Corozal District

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★ Corozal Bay

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★ Corozal North

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★ Corozal South East

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★ Corozal South West

★ Orange Walk District

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★ Orange Walk Central

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★ Orange Walk East

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★ Orange Walk North

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★ Orange Walk South

★ Stann Creek District

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★ Dangriga

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★ Stann Creek West

★ Toledo District

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★ Toledo East

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★ Toledo West

Voting Population by Constituency

Below is a list of the voting population (June 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 June 2007 the voting population of Belize is estimated at 143,317 while the total population is estimated at 301,300.
The Voter Age Population (VAP), i.e. all persons over the age of eighteen, is 161,677, or 53.66% of the total population. Of these, almost eighty-nine percent are actually registered. Males slightly outnumber females in the population, though the gap is noticeable in the larger urban areas such as Belize City, home to 10 constituencies.

District	Constituency	Total	Nationwide Rank	District Rank
Belize	Albert	3059	31st	13th
	Belize Rural Central	4024	23rd	5th
	Belize Rural North	4415	20th	3rd
	Belize Rural South	4977	13th	1st
	Caribbean Shores	4246	22nd	4th
	Collet	3468	26th	8th
	Fort George	3114	30th	12th
	Freetown	3233	27th	9th
	Lake Independence	4490	19th	2nd
	Mesopotamia	3183	28th	10th
	Pickstock	3122	29th	11th
	Port Loyola	3792	25th	7th
	Queen's Square	3885	24th	6th
Cayo	Belmopan	5355	6th	2nd
	Cayo Central	5805	3rd	1st
	Cayo North	4799	17th	5th
	Cayo North East	4252	21st	6th
	Cayo South	5282	9th	4th
	Cayo West	5290	8th	3rd
Corozal	Corozal Bay	4937	16th	3rd
	Corozal North	4952	15th	2nd
	Corozal South East	5117	14th	1st
	Corozal South West	4768	18th	4th
Orange Walk	Orange Walk Central	5623	4th	2nd
	Orange Walk East	5071	12th	4th
	Orange Walk North	5899	2nd	1st
	Orange Walk South	5400	7th	3rd
Stann Creek	Dangriga	5049	11th	2nd
	Stann Creek West	6142	1st	1st
Toledo	Toledo East	5199	10th	2nd
	Toledo West	5369	5th	1st
National	31	143,317

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

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★ Mark Espat, PUP

★ Belize Rural Central

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★ Ralph Fonseca, PUP

★ Belize Rural North

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★ Maxwell Samuels, PUP

★ Belize Rural South

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★ Manuel Heredia, Jr., UDP

★ Belmopan

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★ To elect first-ever Area Representative during 2008 General Elections. Standard Bearers: PUP-Rolando Zetina, UDP-John Saldivar (currently in Cayo South)

★ Caribbean Shores

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★ Jose Coye, PUP - Minister of Health, Local Government, Transport and Communication

★ Cayo Central

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★ Mario Castellanos, PUP - Minister of State, Agriculture and Fisheries

★ Cayo North

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★ Ainslie Leslie, PUP - Minister of State, Works

★ Cayo North East

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★ To elect first-ever Area Representative during 2008 General Elections. Current Standard Bearers: PUP-Orlando Habet; UDP-Elvin Penner.

★ Cayo South

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★ John Saldivar, UDP (Switches to Belmopan for 2008)

★ Cayo West

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★ Erwin Contreras, UDP

★ Collet

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★ Patrick Faber, UDP

★ Corozal Bay

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★ Vildo Marin, PUP - Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries; Deputy Prime Minister

★ Corozal North

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★ Valdemar Castillo, PUP

★ Corozal South East

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★ Florencio Marin, PUP

★ Corozal South West

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★ Gabriel Martinez, UDP

★ Dangriga

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★ Sylvia Flores, PUP - Minister of Human Development

★ Fort George

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★ Said Musa, PUP - Minister of Finance and the Public Service (Prime Minister)

★ Freetown

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★ Francis Fonseca, PUP - Minister of Education and Labour

★ Lake Independence

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★ Cordell Hyde, PUP

★ Mesopotamia

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★ Michael Finnegan, UDP

★ Orange Walk Central

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★ John Briceño, PUP -

★ Orange Walk East

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★ Dave Burgos, PUP

★ Orange Walk North

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★ Servulo Baeza, PUP - Minister of State, National Resources

★ Orange Walk South

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★ Ismael Cal, PUP - Minister of State, Home Affairs and Public Utilities

★ Pickstock

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★ Godfrey Smith, PUP - Minister of Tourism, Information and National Emergency

★ Port Loyola

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★ Anthony Martinez, UDP

★ Queen's Square

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★ Dean Barrow, UDP - Leader of the Opposition

★ Stann Creek West

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★ Rodwell Ferguson, PUP - Minister of State, Education

★ Toledo East

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★ Michael Espat, PUP - Minister of Works

★ Toledo West

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★ Marcial Mes, PUP - Minister of State, National Development

History

Below is the chronological order for the creation of Belize's current Constituencies.

★ 1961

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★ The following became Belize's 18 original constituencies:

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★
★ Belize District: Albert, Belize Rural North, Belize Rural South, Collet, Fort George, Freetown, Mesopotamia, Pickstock

★
★
★ Cayo District: Cayo North, Cayo South

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★
★ Corozal District: Corozal North, Corozal South

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★
★ Orange Walk District: Orange Walk North, Orange Walk South

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★
★ Stann Creek District: Stann Creek Town, Stann Creek Rural

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★
★ Toledo District: Toledo North, Toledo South

★ 1984

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★ The following constituencies were created:

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★
★ Belize District: Caribbean Shores, Lake Independence, Queen's Square, Port Loyola

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★
★ Cayo District: Cayo Central, Cayo West

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★
★ Corozal District: Corozal Bay

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★
★ Orange Walk District: Orange Walk Central, Orange Walk East

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★ The following were altered:

★
★
★ Corozal District: Corozal South was split into Corozal South East and Corozal South West

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★
★ Toledo District: Boundaries were altered and constituencies renamed to Toledo East and Toledo West

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★ The following were renamed:

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★
★ Stann Creek District: Stann Creek Town renamed Dangriga, Stann Creek Rural renamed Stann Creek West

★ 1993

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★ The following constituency was created:

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★
★ Belize District: Belize Rural Central

★ 2005

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★ The following constituencies were created:

★
★
★ Cayo District: Belmopan, Cayo North East

References

★ Belize Elections & Boundaries Department's Map of Belize's Constituencies

★ Government of Belize's Official Website

★ Boundary Re-districting

See also

★ Belize

★ Politics of Belize

★ Districts of Belize