PM Barrow Introduces New Referendum Bill

For the latest news across Belize, visit: http://edition.channel5belize.com/ A new referendum bill was introduced and taken through all its three stages in the House of Representatives. The special sitting started after ten this morning and continued well into the evening. Debate was robust, at times emotional and even produced an abstention from former prime minister Said Musa, an individual rare vote hardly taken in the House. The referendum bill is government’s response to an interim injunction imposed by the Chief Justice last Wednesday. The Bill calls for the holding of a referendum to determine whether any legal claim by Guatemala on land, insular territories and maritime areas should be taken to the I.C.J. for final settlement and allows the court to determine the boundaries of Belize. Hipolito Novelo sets out the introduction of the new referendum bill.