Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
HARBOR VIEW, Sint Maarten – The 15 persons elected to the parliament of Sint Maarten during the parliamentary elections on January 9th, are now official Members of Parliament. They were sworn in by the Governor, His Excellency drs. Eugene B. Holiday during a ceremony held at the Governors Office in Harbor View Monday morning.
The 15 law makers to take the oath of office Monday morning were from the National Alliance Silveria Jacobs, Jurendy Doran, William Marlin, Christopher Emmanuel, Ardwell Irion and Rudolphe Samuel. From the United Peoples Party are Rolando Brison, Grisha Marten Heyliger, Omar Ottley and Sidharth Bijlani. From Party for Progress Melisa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson, from the United Sint Maarten Party Claudius Buncamper and Arkeem Arrindell and the United Democrats Sarah Wescot-Williams.
In addressing the newly elected MPs prior to taking the oath Monday morning Governor Holiday reminded them of their tasks as representatives of the people of Sint Maarten You are, in short, mandated and called upon to stand up for the people of Sint Maarten, to articulate the peoples concerns, the Governor told MPs. According to Governor Holiday, accepting the function of parliamentarian through the taking of the oath is: (1) your solemn expression of your commitment to perform your function independently and with integrity. That is that you have not accepted anything from or given anything to anyone in connection with your election as a Member of Parliament; (2) taking the oath is your pledge of allegiance to the King and the Kingdom Charter and (3) taking the oath is your sincere pledge or promise to always help to uphold the Constitution of Sint Maarten. By taking the oath you unconditionally swear to always dedicate yourself to foster the wellbeing of the people of Sint Maarten, Governor Holiday told lawmakers Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the Parliament of Sint Maarten met in a plenary session Monday afternoon. The purpose of the meeting was to appoint the Chairperson and Vice Chair person of Parliament respectively.
During the meeting, Member of Parliament and leader f the United Peoples Party, Rolando Brison was elected to the position of Chairman of Parliament, while MP William Marlin was selected as the Vice Chairman of Parliament.
