Parliamentary Elections, 12 March 2025

On the 12 March 2025, Belize conducted a general parliamentary election for members of the Belizean House of Representatives The 31 members of the House are directly elected by a first past-the-post plurality vote, and can elect a Speaker from outside the House, thus adding a 32nd member. MPs serve five-year terms with no term limits (IFES 2025).

The responsible electoral management bodies are the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and the Election and Boundaries Department (ECD) (ECD n.d.)

There had been legal efforts to postpone the election involving challenges to electoral boundaries as being unconstitutional, which the courts ultimately dismissed (Greater Belize Media 2025). The campaign period was peaceful but marked by deep divisions within the opposition party; the United Democratic Party (UDP) fielded two competing slates of candidates, raising concerns about voter confusion due to the use of similar party symbols on ballots (OAS EOM 2025).

The voters generally faced few issues when casting their ballots, although some polling stations were inaccessible to individuals with disabilities. There were instances of campaign activity near polling stations, which could intimidate voters and reports of incentives being offered to voters (OAS EOM 2025).

Women accounted for only 11 out of 90 candidates (12 per cent), a decline on the 2020 electoral process when 15 per cent of candidates were women. The OAS heard concerns that women who enter the political arena frequently face threats and intimidation, discouraging their participation (OAS EOM 2025). Of the three women who won seats, Tracy Panton became the first female Leader of the Opposition shortly after the election (San Pedro Sun 2025).

The election concluded with a voter turnout of 64.97 per cent compared to 81.86 per cent in 2020 (International IDEA n.d.)—and a record high proportion of rejected ballots (2.11 per cent)—the lowest turnout since independence (Palacio 2025). The People’s United Party (PUP) secured a decisive victory with 26 seats, while the UDP won five seats (National Assembly n.d.).

Innovations

For the 2025 election, the ECD introduced hourly updates on voter turnout through its website. Returning officers in polling stations around the country transmitted data via telephone to a central computerized tracking centre; the data was managed by a group of 48 staffers in the EBD central office. The OAS recommended building on this process to implement a preliminary results system (OAS EOM 2025).