section_path: Date
section_name: Date
paragraph_text: Date
  
  The previous general elections were held on 11 November 2020, and the new National Assembly was opened on 11 December 2020. 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. A general election must be called within three months of a dissolution, which meant the latest possible date for the next Belizean general election would be 11 March 2026.
  
  At the beginning of 2025, Prime Minister Johnny Briceño indicated that elections would be called in the first half of the year. In February, Trinidadian senior counsel and former Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, formally requested on behalf of his clients that the government refrain from calling an election until it carried out a redistricting exercise. On 11 February, Briceño called the elections for 12 March, with Nominations Day on 24 February. The Writ of Election was formally filed by the Governor-General immediately afterwards. The High Court later dismissed the claim, allowing the election to proceed. While the case was appealed to the Court of Appeal, the Caribbean Court of Justice denied a request for special leave, ruling that it lacked merit. Ramlogan later withdrew the appeal on the request of his clients.