General elections were held in Belize on 7 March 2012 for all 31 seats in the House of Representatives using a first-past-the-post system.

The election was held nearly a year ahead of the constitutionally due date. Prime Minister Dean Barrow's United Democratic Party (UDP) ran on the government's record of promoting "pro-poor and pro-people programmes".

Political Parties & Candidates

A total of 74 candidates including 71 men and three women contested the election.

Results

The UDP was returned to power, taking 17 of the 31 directly elected seats; down from 25 that it held in the outgoing legislature. The opposition People's United Party (PUP), led by Francis Fonseca, took the remainder. Only one woman candidate, from the PUP, was successful.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 73.18%.

Post-election

On 21 March the newly-elected House members were sworn in alongside the newly-appointed senators.