Winners and losers: an analysis of the August elections
PHILIPSBURG — Election results can be brutal for parties and for individual candidates. The August 19 elections were no different. The National Alliance remained its position as the largest party by a slim margin, but compared to its results in January it still lost a stunning 1,200 votes, a decline of 34.6 percent. The United People’s party (UP) did not fare much better; it lost the support of 771 voters (38 percent). Both parties also lost a seat in parliament. The NA now has three, the UP just two.
In terms of percentages, the Democratic Party led the way with a gain of 22.2 percent, followed by URSM (10.6 percent). The Party for Progress went up slightly with 66 votes to a total of 1,942, an increase of 3.5 percent. NOW won 1,245 votes and lost 250; a decline of 17 percent.
It did not come as a surprise that the Oualichi Movement for Change (OMC) led by Olivier Arrindell did not win a seat; it won just 521 votes. Nigel Wigley’s ECE did even worse: with just 136 votes its political aspirations seem to be dead in the water.
Some familiar faces won’t make a comeback in parliament. Among them are former Prime Minister and leader of the National Alliance Silveria Jacobs, NA-MP Cloyd Marlin, NOW-founder Christopher Emmanuel and his number two candidate Claudius Buncamper and the UP-members Rolando Brison, Akeem Arrindell and Chanel Brownbill.
Franklin Meyers will return to the parliament as the leader of his party Soualiga Action Movement (SAM). His party received 1,249 votes. There are no data available to suggest that the SAM-voters would otherwise have supported the NA or the UP but there is no doubt that Meyers’ party did some damage to the political establishment.
A further analysis of the NA-result shows that Egbert Doran won the most votes (361) but he still lost 177 votes (32.9 percent) compared to January. Silveria Jacobs (283 votes) took the hardest hit with a loss of 184 votes (39.4 percent), followed by Anna Richardson (142 votes) with a loss of 72 (33.6 percent) and Cloyd Marlin (272 votes) with a loss of 134 votes (33 percent).
The UP also had a slaughterhouse experience. In January it had a moderate result with more than 2,800 votes, but in August the support dropped to 2,038, a loss of 771 votes (38 percent). Party leader Omar Ottley led the way with 666 votes, but he still lost 108 votes (14 percent) compared to January. The biggest loser in this party was vote-buying-suspect Akeem Arrindell: he won 89 votes, a loss of 274 (74.8 percent). Other losers were Francisco Lacroes (236 votes) with a loss of 76 (24.4 percent), Rolando Brison (225 votes) with a loss of 31 (12.1 percent) and Chanel Brownbill (51 votes) with a loss of 93 (64.6 percent).
Outgoing Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina stole everybody’s thunder with 1,315 votes, a gain of 613 (87.3 percent). Other members on his list lost voter support between 26.5 and 78.1 percent but attorney Sjamira Roseburg did well with 208 votes, a gain of 83 (66.4 percent); Richinel Brug also progressed with a score of 227, a gain of 139 (158 percent) compared to January.
Within the Democratic party Grisha Heyliger-Marten solidified her position as the top vote getter with 477 votes, a gain of 54 (12.8 percent) while Sarah Wescot-Williams won 390 votes, a loss of 108 (39 percent). Viren Kotai’s score of 339 votes marked a gain of 89 (35.6 percent).
In the Party for Progess (PfP) Ludmila de Weever emerged as the clear leader with 690 votes, a gain of 121 (21.3 percent), while party-founder Melissa Gumbs had 346 votes, a loss of 116 (25.1 percent). Raeyhon Peterson added 52 votes to his January score for a total of 309, a plus of 20.2 percent. Patrice Gumbs jumped from 126 votes in January tot 224 votes in August, a gain of 98 (77.8 percent)
The NOW-party saw its founder and number one candidate Christopher Emmanuel suffer defeat at the hands of the electorate. He won 252 votes, losing the support of 201 voters compared to January – a decline of 44.4 percent.
Lyndon Lewis came out on top with 447 votes, 271 more than in January, an increase of 154 percent. Claudius Buncamper did not manage to improve: he got stuck with 111 votes, a loss of five (4.3 percent).
While negotiations about the formation of a new government are still underway, it seems likely that Luc Mercelina will be able to present a new government with the support of the DP Party and the PfP. This coalition would hold a narrow majority of eight seats.
Depending on who will become a member of the new Council of Ministers, the following candidates could still move into a seat in the new parliament: Marinka Gumbs and Dimar Labega (DP), Raeyhon Peterson and Patrice Gumbs (PfP) and Veronica Jansen-Webster and Christopher Wever (URSM).
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