by Wycliffe Smith On February 26th the people of Sint Maarten spoke by means of the ballot. They said that they do not trust one party with an outright majority and that they still prefer to have a national parliamentary coalition. With the 15 parliamentary seats now distributed among four parties in a 7-5-2-1 composition, the voters have given the political parties a tall order. Listening to the general public, I am hearing that the people of Sint Maarten would prefer a national government, which includes all parties. The Governor, in his assignment to the “informateurs”, referred to the broadest…
Author: The Publisher
Port de Plaisance — In her very brief remarks when she was invited on stage to assist with one of the very important presentations at the conclusion of the 38th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, Prime Minister of St. Maarten, Leona Marlin-Romeo told the gathering that the island is open for business. “Yes, we had a very rough time during and after hurricane Irma, but that did not let us stop there. We are open for business and looking forward to seeing each of you here next year,” she said. Before leaving the stage, Prime Minister Leona Marlin-Romeo had the distinct…
COLE BAY — The St. Maarten Nature Foundation is again warning of a potential influx of Sargassum seaweed in the coming weeks: “We have been coordinating our monitoring efforts with our partners in the region and based on weather predictions and aerial surveys there is a significant amount of the seaweed headed in our general vicinity. “We have been really trying to work both with our partners in the region and with local stakeholders to monitor the situation and to find a way to control the amount of the weed washing up on beaches in the case of a significant…
Dear Editor, Two weeks before the NBA All-Star Game which took place last February a storm without peer broke loose in the basketball world and arguably also in the larger field of international sports and such especially because of the turn it took. The first swing in what became like a heated debate was taken by the duo of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, two of the most famous basketball players of their generation. In an interview they had a couple of days before the All-Star Game they had expressed very sharp criticism on the actual president of the US,…
By Chris Morvan, With all the rebuilding and repairing that has been going on here since Irma, there has no doubt been a collective surge in blood pressure, a lot of bad language and a mixed bag of results as people honed their DIY skills.
LE GALION — Local residents visiting Le Galion beach today for the first time since the passing of hurricane Irma were surprised to find that the access to the part of the beach most frequented by locals was cut off by a naturally created run-off channel from the pond located behind Le Galion beach to the water front, as can be seen from the below collage of screengrabs from a video taken of the area. The beach water, being muddied by the run-off from the pond made swimming a no-go for the locals visiting the beach. It seems it may…
Great Bay — Wind is often an essential part of sailing. Too much can have an adverse effect, too little can result in boats arriving at the starting line, too soon or too late. But it all came down to experience and team work at the start of the 38th St Maarten Heineken Regatta which commenced this morning. Despite the fact that the number of participating boats has dropped significantly, the level of international entries remained the same among the over 100 boats in 13 classes that are competing for podium place this year. The Around the Island race has…
PORT DE PLAISANCE — During the opening night of the Heineken Regatta, Interim Tourist Bureau Director, Rolando Brison, said that the Heineken Regatta is one of the biggest economic events when it comes to St. Maarten. “Although we talk about the yachting, we talk about the serious fun, what do you do by helping us put this event together is actually help the economy of St. Maarten in ways you cannot imagine.” Brison said as he address the audience. “The economy really depends on this event every year and it also helps develop some spin-offs into the yachting sector and…
PHILIPSBURG – The Chairman of the Central Voting Bureau for the elections of the Members of Parliament of Sint Maarten announced that the aforementioned will convene a meeting on Monday, March 5th, at 10am at the House of Parliament to establish the results of the election of the members to the Parliament of Sint Maarten, which took place on February 26th, 2018. During the aforementioned meeting, amongst other things, it will be assessed if there are grounds available to order a recount. The Central Voting Bureau can either ex officio or upon request of an eligible voter determine that a…
Harbour View – On March 1, 2018, the Governor of Sint Maarten, His Excellency drs. E.B. Holiday requested Mrs. Dr. R.J.A. Arduin and Mr. J.J. Beaujon to accept the appointment to take on the role of informateur to research the possibilities for the formation of a new government that is supported by the broadest possible majority in Parliament. The appointment is a result of the consultations Governor Holiday held between February 27 and March 1, 2018, with leaders of the Political Parties that obtained seats in Parliament (the United Democrats, the National Alliance, the United St. Maarten Peoples Party and…
