Months before Belize’s upcoming municipal elections, the political landscape is already shifting into high gear: candidates are canvassing neighborhoods to build voter support, pre-election spending is climbing rapidly, and electoral slates are being finalized across the nation. But one long-unresolved issue has once again risen to the forefront of public debate: the absence of legal regulations requiring political parties and candidates to disclose the origins of their campaign funding and details of their spending.
The Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI), the country’s leading private sector advocacy body, is sounding the alarm over this persistent lack of transparency, and has renewed its urgent call for sweeping campaign finance reform as the election season officially gets underway.
In a public statement released by the organization, BCCI Vice President William Usher emphasized that transparency is the non-negotiable core of the reform push. “Financing is an accepted part of politics and governance — we do not argue against that. But the public has a right to know who is funding campaigns, and how much those contributions are. We cannot allow room for illicit funding, and we cannot accept a system where donors expect hidden favors in return for their financial support after an election,” Usher explained.
Campaign finance reform has been a lingering item on Belize’s national policy agenda for more than 20 years, but successive national administrations have failed to advance comprehensive legislation to address the gap. Usher noted that the BCCI will maintain sustained pressure for change through its broader governance reform initiative. The organization’s strategy includes ongoing public advocacy, targeted engagement with key stakeholders, and facilitating inclusive national dialogue that brings together civil society groups, labor unions, political parties, and the private sector to build consensus around reform. The BCCI also highlighted that Plan Belize, a national policy framework, already includes provisions aligned with these reforms, and is calling on the body to accelerate work on the proposal.
This is not the first time the private sector has pushed for change. Back in 2023, the BCCI drafted its own model legislation outlining a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s campaign finance rules. The draft proposal includes several key provisions: the creation of a public National Election Campaign Fund, mandatory public disclosure of all campaign donations, and legally binding caps on both individual contributions and overall campaign spending by candidates and parties.
The news comes as political activity ramps up ahead of the 2026 municipal elections, with early spending already raising concerns about unregulated influence over the electoral process. The BCCI’s renewed call puts added pressure on political actors to address a decades-long gap in the country’s election governance framework.