By Hilbert Haar Based on results, issues like integrity and transparency do not appeal to our electorate. The United Democrats and the St. Maarten Christian Party campaigned on these issues and look where it got them. The SMCP lost its seat and the UD barely managed to hang on to its lone seat in parliament. But, as the saying goes, the people have spoken and they will now get the government they deserve. The coalition of the National Alliance with the United People’s party looks on the surface stable enough: together they occupy ten seats in our fifteen-seat parliament. That’s…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Former Member of Parliament Silvio Matser has found no reprieve at the Supreme Court in The Hague where he contested his 2017 conviction for tax fraud. The Supreme Court judges – Willem van Schendel, Matthias Borgers and Annelies Röttgering – upheld the ruling of the common Court of Justice though it slightly lowered the punishment because it took more than two years for the court to publish its ruling. Matser is now irrevocably convicted to 21 months and two weeks of imprisonment with 18 months suspended, three years of probation and a fine of 15,000 guilders. In 2017,…
PHILIPSBURG – Hardly two days after the elections, winner National Alliance (NA) has signed a rather surprising coalition agreement with the United People’s party (UP). In the new government, the NA has five ministers, the UP two. Together, the two parties have ten seats in the new parliament, a seemingly solid majority. But there are indications that NA-MP Christophe Emmanuel is not happy with his party’s choice for the UP; he did not sign the coalition agreement. Reportedly, Emmanuel would have preferred a coalition with the United St. Maarten party (USp) to work together with MP-elect Claudius Buncamper on his…
GREAT BAY — While another earthquake may rattle Puerto Rico’s southwestern coast even more, the risk of tsunamis hitting the Leeward Islands is very slim. Earthquakes below 7.5 or 7.0 usually do not trigger tsunamis. The last time a major tsunami hit the Caribbean region was in 1946, after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. Over the past 500 years, the Caribbean region may have been exposed to approximately 100 tsunamis. The North Panama Deformed Belt has the largest number of tsunami records within the Caribbean. Puerto Rico sits at the edge of the…
PHILIPSBURG — The Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) would like to thank the voters of Sint Maarten for going out and exercising their democratic right and voting in the next parliament. The election took place peacefully and orderly. As we know, the ballot is the way the people speak and certainly the people have spoken today. SMCP certainly respects the voice and the decision of the people. For this reason SMCP would like to congratulate all the winning parties, the NA, UPP, USP, PFP and the UD. Also congratulations to the elected parliamentarians. SMCP wishes you much success. The people…
PHILIPSBURG – Interim Minister of Justice Jurendy Doran, candidate number 5 on the list of the National Alliance leads the top-ten of vote getters in Thursday’s parliamentary elections. Doran improved his score from the 2018 elections by 157 percent, from 278 to 843 votes. Behind Doran are two other NA-candidates: interim Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs whose voter support dropped from 896 in 2018 to 753 this time around and MP Christophe Emmanuel, who improved from 571 to 687 votes. UP-candidate number four Grisha Heyliger-Marten rode on the wings of her husband Theo to fourth place with 656 votes. Party for…
Harbour View – Today, January 10, 2020, the Governor of Sint Maarten, His Excellency drs. E.B. Holiday was informed by the chairman of the Central Voting Bureau about the proceedings of the January 9, parliamentary elections. Governor Holiday also received the preliminary results of the January 9, 2020, parliamentary elections. Interim Prime Minister Ms. S. Jacobs has, in view of the elections, made the portfolios of the Ministers and the Minister Plenipotentiary available. The Governor informed the Prime Minister that he will take the resignation into consideration and requested the Ministers and the Minister Plenipotentiary to continue to handle the…
PHILIPSBURG – The National Alliance recorded a convincing victory in Thursday’s parliamentary elections, securing six seats in the new parliament – based on preliminary results. The United People’s party came in second for four seats, while the United St. Maarten party and newcomer Party for Progress each won two seats. The fifteenth seat is for the United Democrats. The St. Maarten Christian Party did not manage to hold on to its seat and the People’s Progressive Alliance did not win enough votes for a seat either. USp party leader Frans Richardson did not win enough votes to hold on to…
PHILIPSBURG — Four months before the introduction of the planned visa requirement for Venezuelans in the Dutch Caribbean, more than half of the group of illegal Venezuelans on St. Maarten has left to return home on their own initiative. An estimated three hundred undocumented Venezuelan men remain on the island. Santiago (41) is one of the very few illegal Venezuelans who landed at Grand Case-Espérance Airport twice; the first time in 2017 and the second time in October last year. He returned weeks before the Dominican Republic government introduced temporary visa requirement for Venezuelans. “Like me, all of my friends…
PHILIPSBURG — The 2019 income tax returns and the 2020 monthly tax forms will soon be available via the online service provided by the Tax Office. Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion met with the Head Tax Administration of The Ministry of Finance, Sherry Hazel. During this meeting at the Tax Office, Hazel briefed the minister on the challenges the organization is experiencing, ranging from a shortage of personnel, which is further intensified by the high level of sick leave, to the outdated IT system presently in use. Furthermore, the lack of communication between the two applications further increases the workload.…
