Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--The four vacant seats in Parliament will soon be filled. The four persons to whom the seats were offered by the Central Voting Bureau by virtue of the votes they gathered on their parties' slates have accepted their posts.
Voting Bureau Chairman Jason Rogers told The Daily Herald as of this morning all four had accepted their seats to serve as Members of Parliament (MPs).
Up to late last night, Perry Geerlings of the Democratic Party (DP) had not yet accepted his seat, Rogers had told the paper on Wednesday night.
Now that Geerlings has accepted the seat, Rogers will inform Parliament of his acceptance. The documents of the other three incoming members - former minister Romeo Pantophlet and former MPs George Pantophlet and Hyacinth Richardson of the National Alliance (NA) - were sent to Parliament on Wednesday.
The four incoming MPs will take up the seats vacated by Prime Minister William Marlin, Education and Culture Minister Silveria Jacobs, Public Health and Labour Minister Emil Lee and Public Housing and Infrastructure VROMI Minister Christophe Emmanuel. The functions of MPs and minister are not compatible under the St. Maarten Constitution.
The incoming MPs will have to be accepted in a plenary session of Parliament before they can take the oath before Governor Eugene Holiday. At least eight MPs must sign in for such a session to take place.
The NA/DP/United St. Maarten Party coalition only has six MPs at present, two short of eight needed for a quorum. This means that at least two MPs of opposition United People's (UP) party will have to sign to aid the quorum.
Meanwhile, the red, white and blue coalition is still awaiting the swearing of its seventh member - the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunication.
