Disqualifications for election as member

(1) No person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives who, (a) is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or State; (b) is an undischarged bankrupt, having been adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in any part of the Commonwealth; (c) is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law; (d) is under sentence of death imposed on him by a court in any part of the Commonwealth or is serving a sentence of imprisonment (by whatever name called) exceeding twelve months imposed on him by such a court or substituted by competent authority for some other sentence imposed on him by such a court, or is under such a sentence of imprisonment the execution of which has been suspended; (e) is disqualified for membership of the House of Representatives by any law by reason of his holding, or acting in, any office the functions of which involve, 70 (i) any responsibility for, or in connection with, the conduct of any election; or (ii) any responsibility for the compilation or revision of any electoral register; (f) is disqualified for membership of the House of Representatives by virtue of any law by reason of his having been convicted of any offence relating to elections; (g) is disqualified for membership of the House of Representatives under any law by virtue of, (i) his holding or acting in any office or specified (either individually or by reference to a class of office or appointment) by such law; (ii) his belonging to any of the armed forces of Belize or to any class of person that is comprised in any such force; or (iii) his belonging to any police force or to any class of persons that is comprised in any such force; or (h) is a party to, or a partner in a firm or a director or manager of a company which is a party to, any contract with the Government for or on account of the public service and has not, within one month before the day of declared publicly and in a newspaper circulating in the division for which he is a candidate a notice setting out the nature of the contract and his interest, or the interest of any such firm or company therein, Provided that if it appears to the Governor-General, acting in his own deliberate judgment, that it is proper so to do, he may by order direct that any such disqualification shall be disregarded for the purposes of this section, but no such order shall be made if proceedings have been commenced calling in question the right of that member to be a member of the House of Representatives on the ground that he is disqualified under this paragraph. (2) For the purposes of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section, (a) two or more sentences of imprisonment that are required to be served consecutively shall be regarded as separate sentences if none of those sentences exceeds twelve months, but if any one of such sentences exceeds that term they shall be regarded as one sentence; and (b) no account shall be taken of a sentence of imprisonment imposed as an alternative to or in default of the payment of a fine. (3) Where a by-election is held to fill the vacancy caused by the recall of a member of the House of Representatives under any law providing for the recall of the elected representatives, the member so recalled or who resigned in consequence of a petition for his or her recall shall be ineligible to stand as a candidate for the seat to be filled in such by-election.