PHILIPSBURG — The Pro Soualiga Foundation presented a third way to Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina and the Central Voting Bureau chairlady Natahlie Tackling to solve the conflict between article 59 of the Constitution and two electoral laws. Article 59 states that the new Parliament must be seated within three months after the call for new elections, but if the government wants to adhere to the terms established in electoral laws this is not possible. The government has in the meantime found a way out, citing exceptional circumstances, that justifies exceeding the three-month term. See related news: Elections postponed until…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — In consultation with Acting Governor Emily Bird-Lake, the government has postponed the elections for a new parliament from July 19 until August 19. Postulation Day is now set for July 2 and the new parliament will be seated on September 20, while the current parliament will be dissolved on the same date. In a national decree dated May 27, the Acting Governor and the Prime Minister motivate their decision to change the dates that were established in a decree dated May 21. They quote the concerns expressed by the Central Voting Bureau (CVB) in a letter dated May…
GREAT BAY (May 27, 2024)—The process of the transfer of land from the Princess Juliana International Airport Holding company (PJIAH) to the government for the construction of the Weather Bureau and Civil Aviation buildings has been set in motion, following discussions between Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunications Grisha Heyliger-Marten and PJIAH management. The land transfer issue has been pending for almost a decade, resulting in increasing rental expenses for government. The land in question measures some 1,200 square meters at the location of the Air Traffic Control Tower. “One of the reasons the Met Office and Civil…
Philipsburg, St. Maarten – The Board of the National Alliance (NA) is deeply concerned about the false narratives being spread by the outgoing 2×4 coalition. These misleading claims undermine public trust in elected officials. When the National Alliance took office in November 2019, they inherited a budget for fiscal year 2019 that had just been approved after nearly a year’s delay by the previous DP Minister. This delay halted new policy implementation and left the budget unbalanced, with a shortfall of approximately NAF 71 million guilders, necessitating a request for liquidity support from the Netherlands. Despite the challenges left by…
St. Maarten is in bewilderment at the latest development today. A letter to the Governor went viral on social media wherein MP Kevin Maingrette states that he retracts his support for the Great 8 and renews his support for the Dr. Luc Mercelina government as an Independent MP. This is a political primeur for me. I have never ever seen this happen before in all the years I have been observing and writing about politics in St. Maarten. This situation has exposed the fundamental flaw in our electoral process. This is what we get when we select willy-nilly candidates based…
PHILIPSBURG — The board of the Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) has issued a statement regarding the recent actions of Independent Member of Parliament Kevin Maingrette. According to the reports, MP Maingrette retracted his support and submitted a letter to Governor Baly to endorse the current coalition again. The URSM board and Party Leader/Prime Minister would like to clarify that they had no involvement or engagement in MP Maingrette’s latest decision. “We believe MP Maingrette engaged in deep personal reflection, recognizing that every action prompts a reaction,” stated the board of URSM. The board also acknowledges that, regardless of…
By Hilbert Haar An unintentional failure to notice or do something. That is, according to the Oxford dictionary, the definition of the term oversight. The current discrepancies between Article 59 of the Constitution and the election laws stem from a legislative oversight, the Central Voting Bureau (CVB) wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina. Attached to this letter was an advice written by constitutional expert Prof. Dr. Arjen van Rijn. I quote: “Tot dusver heeft reeds driemaal een Statenontbinding op grond van artikel 59 Staatregeling plaatsgevonden met een – deels inderdaad aanzienlijke – overschrijding van de driemaandentermijn.”…
THE HAGUE — The Common Court of Justice was correct when it ruled that excluding partners of the same sex from marriage in Aruba and Curacao violates the constitutional ban on discrimination. Both countries appealed in cassation against this ruling at the Supreme Court in the Netherlands but Solicitor-General Gerbrant Snijders writes in his conclusion that the appeals are baseless. Supreme Court rulings traditionally follow such a conclusion. The conclusion has far-reaching consequences for same-sex partners, not only in Aruba and Curacao, but also in St. Maarten. In December 2022 the Common Court of Justice ruled that persons of different…
PHILIPSBURG — No elections on July 19, as the outgoing government has proposed, but on Monday, August 19. That is the proposal of the Central Voting Bureau. Its chairlady Natalie Tackling expressed concerns about the timeline proposed by the government in a letter dated May 23. It is currently unclear whether the date for the interim elections will be changed. The problems with interim-elections that take place after the government dissolves the parliament are not new. There is a longstanding conflict between article 59 of the constitution and regulations established in the national ordinance registration and finances political parties and…
PHILIPSBURG — The National Alliance (NA) is ready to go into the upcoming snap election with overwhelming support within the party for Leader and Member of Parliament Silveria Jacobs. This is according to a press release issued today by the National Alliance party. Although this is an election that the National Alliance party nor the people of St. Maarten wanted seeing the recently held elections on January 11th, especially after four years of stability, which was hard-fought with much deliberations internally and within the Kingdom, the Member of Parliament and former Prime Minister, Silveria Jacobs, has been pivotal with her…
