Type Lower House | Seats 31 | |
 | ||
Speaker Laura Tucker-Longsworth
Since January 13, 2017 Prime Minister Dean Barrow, UDP
Since February 8, 2008 Leader of the Opposition Johnny Briceño, PUP
Since January 31, 2016 Political groups HM Government
United Democratic Party (19)
HM Most Loyal Opposition
People's United Party (12) | ||
The House of Representatives of Belize is one of two chambers of the National Assembly, the other being the Senate. It was created under the 1981 constitution. Members are commonly called "Area Representatives."
Contents
Area Representatives are elected by winning a majority of votes in their respective constituencies under the first-past-the-post system. The body is directly descended from the British Honduras Legislative Assembly created in 1954 with nine elected members. It has been expanded several times since: to 18 in 1961, 28 in 1984, 29 in 1993 and finally to 31 in 2008. The leader of the majority party in the Belize House typically becomes Prime Minister of Belize.
Current members of the House of Representatives by district
The elected representatives and their constituencies according to the Elections and Boundaries Department are:
Next election
According to Section 84 of the Constitution of Belize, the National Assembly must be dissolved "five years from the date when the two Houses of the former National Assembly first met" unless dissolved sooner by the Governor-General of Belize upon the advice of the prime minister. and the election held within three months of the dissolution. The current parliament first met on Friday 13 November 2015, so the next election must be held no later than 13 February 2021.
Past elections
The most recent general election to the House of Representatives, held on 4 November 2015, was the 15th since 1954 when universal literate adult suffrage was introduced, and the 8th since independence from the United Kingdom in 1981. The United Democratic Party led by Dean Barrow increased its majority from 17 seats to 19 seats. While the People's United Party won 12 seats.