At stake in this election:     

• The 31 seats in the House of Representatives

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II*
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Dean BARROW
• Assembly: Belize has a bicameral National Assembly consisting of the Senate with 12 seats and the House of Representatives with 31 seats.

*Queen ELIZABETH II is represented by Governor General Sir Colville YOUNG, Sr.

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is hereditary.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the governor-general.
• In the Senate, the 12 members are appointed by the governor-general to serve 5-year terms. In the House of Representatives, the 31 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: United Democratic Party
  • Leader: Dean BARROW
  • Seats won in last election: 17
• Party: People’s United Party
  • Leader: Francis FONSECA
  • Seats won in last election: 14
• Party: People’s National Party
  • Leader: Wil MAHEIA
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Vision Inspired by the People
  • Leader: Hubert ENRIQUEZ
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: Independents
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Last election:

• The last election for the House of Representatives was held on 7 March 2012. There were 178,054 registered voters for the election. The United Democratic Party won 17 seats (of 31), with 50.37% of the vote; the People’s United Party won 14 seats, with 47.54% of the vote; the People’s National Party won 0 seats, with 0.64% of the vote; the Independents won 0 seats, with 0.64% of the vote; and the Vision Inspired by the People Party won 0 seats, with 0.30% of the vote.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 347,369 (July 2015 est.)[1]
• Registered voters: 178,054 (2012 est.)

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 173,684 (July 2015 est.)[2]
• Is Belize a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (7 March 1990)[3]
• Has Belize ratified CEDAW: Yes (16 May 1990)[4]
• Gender Quota: No[5]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 3 (9.7%) of 31 seats in the House of Representatives[6]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 84[7]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A[8]

Disability Data:

• Is Belize a signatory to CRPD: Yes (9 May 2011)[9]
• Has Belize ratified CRPD: Yes (2 June 2011)[10]
• Population with a disability: 52,105[11]

[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

[2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

[3] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[4] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[5] http://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Belize/belize.html

[6] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS

[7] http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components

[8] http://genderindex.org/countries

[9] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[10] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[11] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/