** GOVERNMENT OF SINT MAARTEN INFORMS ** ** Manual for the voter ** (Art. 52, third section, Electoral Ordinance) You cast your vote by coloring red with a pencil the white dot in front of the name of the candidate of your choice. The ballot paper will be invalid if you have: · not colored red any white dot; · colored more than one white dot red; · casted your vote other than with red pencil; or · adding of any additions (texts or drawings) or if the ballot paper contains an indication of the voter. If you make a…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Not 75% of the households in Sint Maarten but at least 94% of the households in Sint Maarten cannot survive monthly and live in poverty with an household income of less than 4000 ANG or 2222 USD a month. The percentage of households in poverty has increased in five years after Sint Maarten became a country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands with 19%. It went up from 75% in 2010 to 94% in 2015. The Anti-Poverty Platform concluded this based on the results of the Household Budget Survey (HBS) reported by the Department of Statistics of the…
POND ISLAND – Due to the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Irma, the country is still in the recovery phase. Hundreds of vehicles suffered damage. The Government is well aware that many in the community are facing serious hardships and choices have to be made such as fixing one’s home, awaiting settlements from insurance companies, awaiting parts/or awaiting repairs for their vehicles; taking the aforementioned into consideration, with motor vehicle fees due in February, a decision has been taken to extend the compliance payment date for license plate and vehicle inspection fees by an additional four months. The aforementioned is…
Dear Visitor, It’s that time of the year again and I must say boy, is it interesting! They have become more creative but if you have a good collection of their words you will find out that they all basically say the same thing but through different microphones. Some political rallies sound like a screaming contest. Gosh! My ears still hurt from last night. Those who believe in the power of redundancy ensure that these same people or their younger version are elected every year either for sex, job, land, promotions, association purposes, family ties or for a few dollars.…
By Chris Morvan An open-top sports car speeds around the twisting mountain road with magnificent sea views on the other side and only a metal barrier preventing the driver from taking the bouncing, exploding shortcut to the beach. The part of yours truly is played by Tony Curtis or perhaps Roger Moore, because the scene is reminiscent of an early 1960s movie set on the French Riviera. In fact the “sports car” is a rented Hyundai sedan which was handed over to me dirty inside and out, and I am heading, not to Nice or Cannes but to Philipsburg, where…
PHILIPSBURG – The last rallies before Mondays’ parliamentary elections for the three main parties took place at different locations. The National Alliance was on its traditional stomping grounds in St. Peters, the United St. Maarten party need the causeway bridge roundabout in Cole Bay and the United Democrats (UD) on the ring road in Philipsburg. The turnout at the UD-rally was more than reasonable and reports came in that the interest at the NA and USp-rallies was significantly less. In a boisterous atmosphere that is the hallmark of all political rallies, the 23 candidates of the United Democrats all showed…
PHILIPSBURG – The elections that nobody wanted will take place on Monday in St. Maarten and for the first time ever there does not seem to be a lot of election fever. The election campaign has been limited to some public meetings and to social media announcements and almost everyone refrained from littering the island with campaign bill boards. Almost, because National Alliance candidate number 9, Egbert Jurendy Doran put up two billboards and United Democrats candidate number 18, Luc Mercelina (Passionate about medicine) put up just one near a place he knows best: the hospital. Some other candidates advertised…
Dear Editor, As a candidate in the upcoming election, I have observed how political candidates continue to mislead the people in great attempts just to gain political mileage. The latter is evidently the case from the article written by Fe Fernandez, in which he alluded that Air Lekkerbek’s choice to close their business was because of a decision that was taken by the government to reallocate land to the Chamber of Commerce. The article was filled with baseless innuendos and illusions. What was even more disturbing in this shameful rapport was that the person in question went as far as…
PHILIPSBURG – The timing may suggest it, but both Public Health Minister Emil Lee and Kees Klarenbeek, director of the St. Maarten Medical Center, made abundantly clear that the signing of the financing agreement for the new hospital that took place on Friday afternoon in the hospital’s conference room is not an election gimmick. “These are hard financial commitments,” Minister Lee said. “If our financiers renege on this, they are liable for damages. We wanted to secure the progress we have made so far before the elections, so that they would not get lost.” Asked whether he agrees that the…
PHILIPSBURG – Almost six months after Hurricane Irma devastated the island, many businesses have picked up the pieces, rebuilt and reopened. But in Oyster Pond, where the Oyster Bay Beach Resort is making the best of it, quite some other businesses have left their premises in disarray, creating an eyesore for the casual visitor. There are still boat wrecks in the water and opposite the place where once Mr. Busby’s Beach Bar was, boat wrecks are piled high on the land right next to the water. The building of Remaxx Real Estate is destroyed and abandoned, as is the restaurant…
