Prime Minister Romeo Marlin resumes discussions on Electoral Reform
PHILIPSBURG – On March 22nd, the newly formed workgroup on electoral reform met for the first time led by Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin. As outlined in the Governing Program “Building a Sustainable Sint Maarten”, any reform on election procedures can be viewed as political but we must consider that there is a fundamental public lack of trust. We believe that both constitutional and electoral reform can contribute to the restoration of trust.
While it is clear that Sint Maarten enjoys free and fair elections, an increasing concern is that there is still a need to educate the community of our electoral system. To this end, we will review the laws governing elections, improve electoral awareness on all levels and where necessary improve the democratic process of electing a parliament and appointing a government to office.
The first action of the workgroup will be to advise the Prime Minister to establish an Electoral Reform Committee that will explore the options that are being proposed and report to the Council of Ministers, through the Prime Minister. Before any proposal on Electoral Reform can become law members of Parliament will debate the draft laws as presented.
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In Photo L-R –– Acting Head BAK – Angelique Gumbs, SG Ministry General Affairs – Hensley Plantijn, Head Civil Registry – Kathy Snijders, Legal Advisor PM Cabinet – Luis de Cuba, Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin, Acting Head Legal Affairs – Jennifer Fer, Chairman Central Voting Bureau – Jason Rogers and Chairman Electoral Council – Bert Hoffman.
