PHILIPSBURG — The Electoral Council hereby wishes to inform prospective political parties desirous of participating in the upcoming elections on 9 January 2020 that: In view of the fact that postulation date has been set by National Decree (LB-19/0675) on 21 November 2019, new political parties would have to submit a written application to register with the Electoral Council no later than Wednesday, 9 October 2019 at 6 p.m. Together with the application for registration of the political party, the following documents should be submitted: Notarial deed containing the Articles of Association of the party; Excerpt from the Chamber of…
Author: The Publisher
Legal opinion piece titled “An Elected Prime Minister for Sint Maarten” by attorney at law and member of our legal review committee, Mr. Reynold Groeneveldt. Introduction: In our current Governmental system the Prime Minister is chosen and appointed by the majority in Parliament. It is in fact the coalition in Parliament that determines who will become the Prime Minister of the Country after an election. Traditionally this position should go to the Political leader who obtained the majority of votes during the Parliamentary election. As this is not a written rule in our constitutional system, parties have often times deviated…
GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) will be participating in the second annual Nagico Health & Fitness Fair, at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex. Youth Health Care is inviting parents and guardians to bring their child (ren) ages 12-17 years (mainly) with birth years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 to the Nagico Health & Fitness Fair on Saturday, October 5 from 8.00am to 2.00pm. CPS Section Youth Health Care will have a booth at the Health & Fitness Fair which will allow parents/guardians to check their child (ren’s) vaccination status and to verify if it…
GREAT BAY — On Thursday, October 3rd, 2019, approximately 2:45 pm a concerned citizen call the police dispatched, concerning a suspicious yacht that just docked at Walther Plantz pier. At the location the police patrol encountered a yacht with the name SOLETUDE with about 14 passenger with a 3 man crew aboard. The captain and crew could not give a good reason for docking in Sint Maarten without first clearing customs and immigration. The passengers and crew members were brought over to the police station and being held for questioning. The human smuggling team together with immigration department are busy…
PHILIPBURG — MP Sarah Wescot-Williams has failed St. Maarten in her capacity of Chairlady of the Electoral Reform Committee and is now making disingenuous statements about the subject of electoral reform to cover her failures and shift blame. So said USP Faction leader MP Rolando Brison who asked the public not to get fooled by Wescot-Williams attempt to refer to electoral reform as a “mission impossible”. “MP Wescot Williams was the Chairlady of the Electoral Reform Committee of Parliament ever since the committee was established by Parliament on September 14th 2018. Since that period, the MP Wescot-Williams did not make…
GREAT BAY — The pier at the Walter Plantz Square was the scene this afternoon of an unusual situation. A group of young police trainees were seen in action and it was not a police training exercise. A group of 16 people arriving illegally on a sail boat into Great Bay were arrested red-handed on the spot at the dock at the Walter Plantz Square. According to reports reaching our news desk, police were informed via a phone call from someone on the boardwalk that he had seen a boat spinning around in the Great Bay harbor. The boat first…
Harbour View – On October 3, 2019, His Excellency the Governor of Sint Maarten, drs. E.B. Holiday, received a draft national decree from the Council of Ministers regulating the amendment of the decree of September 23, 2019, to dissolve Parliament and call early elections. This is the result of the decision of the members of the Central Voting Bureau, given their concerns raised, to make their positions available by letter of October 1, 2019. Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands there is a basic democratic principle that once elections are called it cannot be revoked. A decree calling for elections…
Minister Geerlings says civil servants the foundation of Sint Maarten’s democracy as 11 take the oath POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten – On Friday September 27, 11 civil servants from the Ministry of Finance took the Civil Servants Oath formalizing their civil service status. During a brief ceremony on Friday, Minister of Finance Hon. Perry Geerlings, described the oath taking as having reached a milestone. In his congratulatory message, Minister Geerlings said: “Several of you have been waiting a number of years for this moment. I am a civil servant as well and I went through this same process. When I…
PHILIPSBURG — Faction leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Rolando Brison will head USP’s list in the #1 position for the upcoming Parliamentary Elections. Brison contested the last Parliamentary elections in the #4 slot on the USP under the leadership of MP Frans Richardson. MP Richardson, with the support of his party’s board, made the announcement on Tuesday night during a meeting with USP candidates who will also be contesting the elections. The move is in keeping with the USP’s principle position of giving young adults an opportunity to not just find a political home within the…
By Hilbert Haar When will politicians learn that they have to play by the rules? Given the soap opera the interim elections have become that could take some time. A lot of time. I won’t go into the specifics of all the terms the law has put in place for elections. Suffice it to say that the constitution conflicts with the electoral law and the national ordinance registration and finances political parties. Members of the Central Voting Bureau have drawn their conclusions and did the only thing they could reasonably do. They resigned. It is not that the government was…
