SXMElections.com

Zaandam, McKenzie-Tatem to sit in Statia Island Council

ST. EUSTATIUS--United People’s Coalition (UPC) leader Reginald Zaandam will sit in St. Eustatius’ new Island Council following Wednesday’s election. He will hold his party’s only seat. The other four seats in the council are shared equally by Progressive Labour Party (PLP) led by Clyde van Putten and Democratic Party (DP) St Read more

De Weever wears bullet-proof vest after Bosman statement

THE HAGUE--Member of St. Maarten Parliament Cornelius de Weever (independent) took safety measures, which included wearing a bullet-proof vest, late 2014 following threats against his person when he left the Democratic Party (DP) in support of the United People's Party (UP).

This became clear during a court injunction in The Hague on Friday by De Weever against Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

De Weever, Bosman face-to-face in court

   By Suzanne Koelega

THE HAGUE--In what can be called a historic case, Members of Parliament Cornelius de Weever of St. Maarten and André Bosman of the Netherlands faced each other in court on Friday on allegations of slander. De Weever took Bosman to court to have the latter retract his statements of bribery in a rectification in the newspapers.

Main reason for the court case, which took place in The Hague in De Weever's presence, was an article of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published on September 29, 2014, headlined "Corrupt St Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Statia to get coalition govt. as no outright winner emerges

~ Two seats each for PLP, DP, one for UPC ~

ST. EUSTATIUS--St. Eustatius voters opted for a coalition government in Wednesday’s Island Council elections, as none of the six parties in the polls emerged with the needed three or more seats in the Island Council.

Talks about forming a coalition government are said to have commenced already among parties.

The Progressive Labour Party (PLP) led by Clyde van Putten captured two seats after receiving 481 votes, the most for any party Read more

Safety measures for Saba volcano in place

THE HAGUE--Various safety measures have been taken to monitor the volcanic activity of Saba's Mount Scenery and to deal effectively with a possible disaster. A second and third seismic metre will be installed in June this year, as well as a Global Positioning System (GPS) later this year. A disaster management plan is in place and regular disaster exercises are held.

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated this in response to written questions submitted by Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 Read more

Elections Concluded On Bes Islands

BES Islands - The PLP Party of Clyde van Putten is in a celebratory mood, as the won two seats during the Island Council elections on Wednesday.

Also celebrating is the Democratic Party of Adelka Spanner.

They too won 2 seats, while the UPC was able to recapture its one seat in the island council of St Read more

Public Transport Permits Under The Microscope

MP Wescot-Williams sends questions to Minister Connor

St. Maarten – The closed-door committee meeting of last Tuesday about bus and taxi permits ended prematurely, because Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication Minister Claret Connor asked committee members to submit their questions about this issue in writing.

Connor said that he has decided to keep the moratorium for public transportation permits in place Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Proposal for islands’ Electoral Colleges ready before summer

THE HAGUE--A proposal to establish Electoral Colleges for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be ready before the summer of 2015, Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk told the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday.

A vast majority in the Second Chamber is in favour of establishing the Electoral College(s) for the Caribbean Netherlands, which became clear during a debate of the Second Chamber's Permanent Committee for Home Affairs with Minister Plasterk Read more

Sarah: MPs still to work out coping with reduced budget

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament still has to readjust its finances to cope with an almost NAf. 2 million budget cut that came with its adoption of the 2015 Country Budget in January.

Parliament originally submitted a budget for its operational expenses totalling some NAf. 12.8 million, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams at a party press conference Monday in Parliament Building Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

DP MP Concerned about Parliament’s 2015 Budget. 0.58% set aside for Legal Advice.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Sara Wescot Williams shared much concern on the parliament's budget for the year 2015 on Monday at a press conference. Wescot Williams and the party's advisor Emil Lee said that they are of the opinion that the Parliament of St Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Permit will be denied if employers fail to hire suggested counterpart

PHILIPSBURG--Employment permit requests will be denied from employers who refuse to hire "suitable counterparts" recommended by the Labour Department.

This is one of the stipulations in the controversial counterpart policy, which was discussed in a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee of Health Care, Social Development and Labour on Friday.

Some Members of Parliament (MPs) echoed sentiments expressed by some sections of the community noting that they had serious concerns about the policy and its potential effects on the economy Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

D66 chapters champion voting rights of Dutch nationals abroad

THE HAGUE--Various chapters of the Dutch Democratic D66 party will submit a motion to party members at the April 18 D66 congress, to arrange the voting rights of Dutch nationals in the Caribbean Netherlands and abroad through an Electoral College.

Persons with Dutch nationality living outside the Netherlands, and those residing in the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba are currently excluded from active voting rights for the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, the Senate.

This is an unfair situation that needs to be changed according to the D66 chapters in, among others the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, and also the D66 chapters in The Hague, Maastricht-Heuvelland, Sittard-Geleen, Nijmegen and the Foreign Region chapter.

The Senate handles affairs that touch Dutch citizens abroad, including the Dutch Caribbean countries and in the Caribbean Netherlands, yet these nationals have no say in that same Senate, Secretary of the D66 Foreign Region chapter Arthur van Benthem stated in a press release Read more

Sarah questions reason for counterpart policy meeting

PHILIPSBURG--“Will we be discussing the relevant law, and if so, with what objective? Is the meeting only informative? Then what is new?” These were some of the queries raised by Democratic Party leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a letter to Parliament about the meeting of Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Public Health, Social Development and Labour on the pending counterpart today, Friday.

She asked what was expected of the committee, as it relates to the agenda point Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Parliament approves 2011 annual accounts

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament unanimously approved the 2011 Annual Accounts of Government on Thursday. The approval comes three years after the period the accounts cover and well past the deadline stipulated by law.

The late tabling of the accounts was due to a severe backlog in the Finance Ministry; that backlog has since been cleared by current Finance Minister Martin Hassink who was at the plenary session of Parliament.

Hassink told the Members of Parliament (MPs) the backlog in the annual accounts is now a thing of the past Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

No quorum stalls housing meeting

PHILIPSBURG--The discussion in Parliament about developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) was stalled on Wednesday after insufficient Members of Parliament signed in for the meeting with ad interim Housing Minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. The meeting will be reconvened at a later date.

Six of the seven United People's (UP) party MPs were not present for the meeting.

Only seven of the 15 MPs serving in the legislature signed in for the meeting Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Country still short two ministers, 2014-2018 governing programme

PHILIPSBURG--It's been almost three months since the current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has taken office and it is still two ministers short of the usual complement of seven. March 19 will mark three months since the cabinet was sworn-in by Governor Eugene Holiday.

To date, there has neither been word from the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo coalition regarding the nomination of the two additional ministers nor about the completion of the Governing Programme for the coalition for 2014-2018.

The current Council of Ministers only numbering five is not in any way illegal as the Constitution states the country can have "up to a maximum of seven ministers."

De-facto government leader United People's (UP) leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger had said in his New Year's address that he "would like to see a complete seven-member cabinet in place within 60 days or less as of the beginning of the New Year."

He also stated in that same address, "I am very confident in the team of ministers who have been appointed so far to carry out the people's business."

Ministers are needed for the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour VSA and the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI.

Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Marcel Gumbs serves as ad-interim VROMI minister while Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs is

ad- interim VSA minister.

It is speculated that potential candidates are shying away from the ministerial nominations, because of the somewhat invasive checks into the lives of minister candidates, their family and friends.

One person close to the issue said, some people do not want even their name to be mentioned as a potential candidate Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Parliament’s integrity needs to be assessed by ad hoc committee

PHILIPSBURG--"I think some type of assessment document should be proposed in the committee on areas that need to be assessed to form an assessment, because if Parliament has to assess itself we have to decide upon what we will be assessing ourselves." That statement from National Alliance (NA) deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Silveria Jacobs summed up Tuesday's meeting of Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee on Integrity.

The ad hoc committee, chaired by independent MP Cornelius de Weever, is set to meet again in two weeks, at which time committee members are expected to table a proposal on the way forward and give comments on the establishment of a Code of Conduct for Parliament.

De Weever submitted a proposal for a code of conduct he had formulated with elements of similar codes in place in the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Plenary Session Of Parliament Scheduled For Wednesday About The St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will meet in a public plenary session on March 11. This session is the continuation of the initial session that was held on December 22, 2014 which is now being reconvened.

The Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Marcel Gumbs, will be present for the public plenary session of the House of Parliament.

The plenary session is set for Wednesday at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is the request to the Governments Accountants Bureau SOAB to carry out a forensic investigation into the operations of the St Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Romney’S Draft Electoral Ordinance Prohibits Going Independent

St. Maarten – Political analyst Julio Romney presented on Wednesday evening his proposal for electoral reform in the form of a draft electoral reconciliation ordinance. The draft contains two key differences with the current system. One is the way seats are distributed among the parties that contest the elections; the other is a ban for Members of Parliament to declare themselves independent.

Romney supports the D’Hondt system for seat distribution. In this system, the numbers of votes won by each party are divided by a series of increasing denominators – from 1 until as high as necessary to arrive at a result.

Using this method, the results of the 2014 elections would have been exactly the same in terms of seat distribution Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Mp Wescot-Williams Keeps Focus On Healthy Lifestyle

St. Maarten -The U2 Can Move organization has planned a walkathon for Saturday, March 7th     towards their goal of a healthy life style for all. Former Prime Minister and Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, who has been one of the driving forces behind this project from its onset, yesterday reiterated her continued support for the different activities that are geared towards a healthy lifestyle for all.

The date for the walkathon has been chosen to coincide with International Women’s Day–  being commemorated under the theme Make it happen– which is annually celebrated on March 8th.

“Cognizant of the constraints many women face, especially where physical activity is concerned, I warmly endorse activities, business-sponsored or otherwise that offer women the opportunity to stay fit Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Second Chamber wants debate on islands’ Electoral College

THE HAGUE--It seems that Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk will be left little choice but to introduce a special Electoral College for the Caribbean Netherlands to safeguard the voting rights of both Dutch and foreign nationals in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The Permanent Committee for Home Affairs of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament decided during a procedural meeting on Thursday, that it wants a general debate with Minister Plasterk to discuss this matter on short term.

Committee Member Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 urged to have this debate within the shortest possible time, so the Second Chamber can proceed to handle the law proposal to establish an Electoral College, through which Dutch citizens in the Caribbean Netherlands would (indirectly) vote for the First Chamber, or the Senate Read more

Sarah calls for discussion on companies’ annual accounts

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has called for the examination of the annual accounts of all government-owned companies in a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.

This urgent meeting request has been communicated to committee chairman MP Frans Richardson (United St Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

MPs call for clarity on taxi, bus permits

PHILIPSBURG--Government is called on to make the register of bus, taxi and tour-bus permits public and to give an explanation of the current moratorium on issuance of permits for those types of businesses by two Members of Parliament (MPs).

Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo said in a press statement issued late Monday night she "wants clarity" on the moratorium Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams and the party advisor Emil Lee expressed concerns on the attitude displayed by some Government Owned Companies Read more

---

Candidates in this article: