Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs remains mum on the majority her government has in the Parliament of St. Maarten. The Prime Minister was asked on Wednesday about the possible fall of her government since former Minister and now Member of Parliament Ludmilla de Weever declared herself as an Independent Member of Parliament last week.
Jacobs said that the weekly press conference is not for political topics but said that her government does have a majority in parliament.During the recess Leader of the United Peoples Party, Rolando Brison went ahead and seek the support of the two independent members of parliament Akeem Arrindell and Chanel Brownbill. The unfinished political agreement was circulating on social media way before Member of Parliament Ludmilla Duncan and Ludmilla de Weever declared themselves independent members of parliament. Rumors have it that MP Grisha Heyliger Marten will also declare herself independent.
On Monday an email that was sent by the founder of the UPP was leaked to a media house, SMN News learned that Heyliger sent the email to at least 3 members of the UPP where he expressed disapproval of his wifes removal from the chair. However, a veteran politician like Theodore Heyliger knows fully well that the chair of parliament is appointed by the majority and not the minority. He is also fully aware that his wife MP Grisha Heyliger Marten has said publicly that she does not support the new coalition that now consists of Arrindell and Brownbill.
The National Alliance and UPP coalition started off with 10 members when negotiations begin in January 2020, however, the first to leave the coalition was MP Christopher Emmanuel who had concerns about forming a government with the United Peoples Party. Emmanuel had preferred to form a coalition with the USP and UD however the leader of the National Alliance, Silveria Jacobs preferred the UPP.
The UPP party has been having severe issues in that they orchestrated the recording of the party leader Roland Brison when he spoke badly of the founders wife. Brison was kicked out of the chair when the audio recording went viral, and the party appointed Member of Parliament Grisha Marten Heyliger as chair. After that scandal the UPP party and Marten Heyliger began having issues because she wanted to take over the party leadership, a planned congress was not held and since then Marten Heyliger has been having internal issues with the party her husband founded.
While the two coalition parties are having their internal issues they both have failed to inform their constituents of the recent developments, however, they were the first to hold press conferences when former MP Franklin Meyers declared himself an independent member of parliament.
