Chairman Main Voting Bureau dispels rumors about holdup appointment Rolando Brison as Minister of VSA

PHILIPSBURG – Rumors have been circulating that the holdup in the appointment of the Chairman of Parliament Rolando Brison as the new Minister of VSA is due to the fact that there is no Main Voting Bureau because all the members have resigned.

StMaartenNews.com spoke with the present Chairman of the Main Voting Bureau, Attorney Jason Rogers, who indeed confirmed his resignation. However, Rogers informed StMaartenNews.com that up until the present moment, there has not been a formal acceptance of his resignation – in the form a ‘besluit’ (decree) – and therefore, as long as there is no ‘besluit’, he is technically still the chairman of the Main Voting Bureau (MVB).

Rogers, who is an attorney with law firm Hoeve & Rogers, said that although he cannot speak for the other members of the Main Voting Bureau, besides himself, two of the other four members still in the Main Voting Bureau have also tendered their resignation. They have also not received any formal acceptance of their resignation either.

Photo caption: Archive photo of the Main Voting Bureau in 2018 with Attorney Jason Rogers as chairman.

By law, the Main Voting Bureau is supposed to have five regular members and two extra-ordinary members. Since before the 2019 call for snap elections, the two extra-ordinary members resigned their position leaving the Main Voting Bureau with only the five regular members, which is not an ideal situation. However, the members of the Central Voting Bureau – as it is also called – at the time of the call for the snap election that was eventually held on January 9, 2020 – continued to execute their tasks.

Now, one year later, the situation is even worse as only two of the five regular members remain active in the Main Voting Bureau. Nevertheless, because none of the three resigned members have a decree accepting their formal resignation, being the good citizens that they are, if called to duty, they would honor the call. As in the case with MP Rolando Brison, by following up on the candidates that would be his replacement in Parliament should he indeed tender his resignation. That is where the process for his appointment as the next minister of public health, social development and labor (VSA) is supposed to begin.

Formally, the President of Parliament or whoever is acting Chairman of Parliament, has to inform the Main Voting Bureau by letter about the resignation of the MP, accompanied by his letter of resignation. Then the chairman of the Main Voting Bureau contacts the next person in line, which happens to be Ludmilla De Weever, who is presently the minister of TEATT, with the question whether she would accept the seat in Parliament. Naturally, it is expected that she will turn down that offer, and then it will go to the next candidate in line, which is Dr. Luc Mercelina.

But in any event, the chairman of the Main Voting Bureau has dispelled all rumors that the holdup is due to the fact that the Central Voting Bureau has no members. Rogers denies that categorically. They are all still formally members who will fulfill any duty they are asked to perform.

EDITORIAL

Now on a separate note, and this is where things gets tricky, because the rumors that have been circulating is that the good doctor and former member of parliament for the UP party, Dr. Luc Mercelina, does not like the anti-Dutch stance of this present government and coalition. So he wants to distance himself from this coalition because of the anti-Dutch rhetoric. That is naturally a 180 degree turn for Mercelina because as an MP he was very much active in a anti-Dutch position. Back to his regular position as doctor, he has flipped 180 degrees and he is now totally anti anti-Dutch, so to speak.

Presently, he has no interest in coming in as an MP. In talks with him, various persons have gotten the impression that he is no longer a member of the UP party, or does not consider himself to be a member or have any affiliation with it. So if he does accept to become an MP again he will most likely come in as an independent member. That is one possible reason for the holdup of Brison becoming Minister of VSA.

Read our the Opinion piece by Hilbert Haar entitled “Questionable future“.