BREAKING NEWS: NA and UP signs coalition agreement

Sources close to the National Alliance camp have revealed that the National Alliance (NA) and the United Peoples (UP) party have signed an agreement to form a new coalition and a new government last night. Sources say William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs, Theo Heyliger and Franklin Meyers signed an agreement last night to form the next government. The deputy leader of the National Alliance who has won the most votes again in this election has put her foot down and says she will not work with Frans Richardson’s US party. Frans Richardson and Silvio Matser are livid at the prospect of not being a part of the next government.

It has been rumored for quite some time that Theo Heyliger has been courting William Marlin for months, discussing the option to join forces after the elections. It was expected that both parties would obtain the most seats in the elections. However, the main reason why parties have been talking is because the leadership of both parties do not wish to work with Frans Richardson’s United St. Maarten Party. The members of that party and the candidates on the list are considered loose canons and are not to be trusted.

“Since election campaign start, Theo is my new best friend!” William Marlin was once overheard saying in the halls of the Government Administration Building. Apparently, that is indeed the case as the above photo taken from Facebook proves. However, in that photo, the only person with a big smile on his face is Theo Heyliger.

With a coalition holding 10 seats in Parliament, can we be assured of a stable government for the next four years? Only time will tell. In 2010 and 2014, both the UP and NA parties garnered the most seats collectively. However, they never were able to form a coalition as agreements made quickly flew out the window and unexpected coalitions were formed with the smaller parties. The people have spoken and given 5 seats to each of these parties, thereby giving them a solid majority of 10 seats in Parliament. Let’s see what the coming days will bring.

UPDATE

The portfolio division are as follows:

NA – Prime Minister/General Affairs, Finance, VROMI and Education

UP – TEATT, Justice, Health, Minister of Plenipotentiary, President of Parliament

We will speculate that the following persons will be appointed to these positions:

Prime Minister = William Marlin (NA)

Minister of Finance = Richard Gibson (NA)

Minister of Education = Silveria Jacobs (NA)

Minister of VROMI = Rodolphe Samuel (NA)

Minister of TEATT = May Ling Chun (UP)

Minister of Justice = Roland Duncan (UP)

Minister of Health = Dr. Lloyd Richardson (UP)

Minister of Plenipotentiary = Josianne Fleming (UP)

President of Parliament = Jules James (UP)

Sources revealed that the USp made too many demands and wanted too much and therefore overplayed their hand and have been cut out of the coalition.

For the Ministry of VROMI it is expected that there will be an internal battle as both Christophe Emmanuel and Rodolphe Samuel want to be a minister. However, Rodolphe Samuel is a long time member of the National Alliance and has seniority. So the party leadership may finally reward him for his support and loyalty with the Ministry of VROMI.

The question of the day is, will Emil Lee take up his seat as Member of Parliament or go back to running his businesses and let Perry Geerlings take his seat instead?