SXMElections.com

Remote Controlled Bureaucracy, Debases 1648 Treaty Of Concordia.

PHILIPSBURG:--- PPA leader Gracita Arrindell states that the border blockade is being used increasingly as an instrument to control the free movement of our people. Once that Genie is out of the bottle its hard to put it back in. Theres a sea of difference between a border-blockade and border control Read more

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People Progressive Alliance: The Voters Have Spoken.

PHILIPSBURG:--- People Progressive Alliance (PPA) leader Gracita Arrindell, stated: following the outcome of the January 9th snap elections, we offer our congratulations to the parties that obtain one seat or more in Parliament Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Former St. Maarten Prime Minister William Marlin believes that the move by The Hague to dissolve the St. Eustatius Island Council, send the Executive Council and Acting Island Governor home and replace them with a Dutch Government-appointed Commissioner, is a dangerous precedent.

“It is sad that in the 21st Century, we still have this form of colonial developments in the region and so close to home where the elected representatives of an island is put aside by others”, Marlin said on Sunday, while responding to a question on the radio programme Breakfast with de Robert on The Voice of St Read more

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Cpa Condemns Dutch Overthrow Of Sint Eustatius Legitimate Elected Government.

St. Eustatius:--- The Caribbean Progressive Alliance (CPA), an association formed during a meeting of COPPPAL on St Maarten, in May 2017, with as members organizations from the remaining non-self-governing countries in general, globally and regionally, with a particular emphasis on the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles.
Counted among our growing members are Puerto Rico, San Andres, Providenciales and U.S Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- The leaders of six political parties submitted their lists to the Electoral Council on Friday paving the way for them to contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections slated for February 26, 2018. They are SDM, SMCP, PPA, USP, NA and the UD.
The United People's Party and Democratic Party joined forces hoping to garner enough votes for a majority in Parliament Read more

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That the financial state of the country is worrisome is a no-brainer. But we all should be alarmed.
This dismal picture is all the more clear with the presentation of the amendments to the 2017 budget by the Minister of Finance. These amendments have been in the make for some time, but the format had to be changed from one that amended a proposed pre-hurricane Irma amendment, to one that amended the approved budget 2017. At least, this is what government says.
However, Government’s tardiness with the 2017 budget amendment has more to do with government’s reluctance to concede
that while they engaged in a shouting match of “over my dead body”, the country financially was bleeding to death Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On Monday, December 18th, 2017 representatives of the University of St. Martin and the Ministry of Education finally arrived at an agreement and signed the MOU securing the continuity of education for students of the USM. This, after the representatives of the University of St. Martin had not seen it possible to sign the proposed MOU on December 11th, 2017. However, after hearing an interview by the Minister on the topic on December 12th, the University promptly contacted the Department of Education with a willingness to resume talks, which commenced on Wednesday, December 13th.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport was happy to do so and met with the Board of the University of St Maarten Foundation to revisit and discuss the MOU that had been presented to the Board by the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- This is the statement that apparently caused the bombshell statement by the leader of the Democratic Party and Chairlady Sarah Wescot-Williams during a tension-filled parliamentary meeting on Friday last.
It was clear even before the Chairlady’s “announcement” on Friday that the ire of Democratic Party was invoked when DP member Perry Geerlings in no uncertain terms disagreed with the Prime Minister’s handling of especially the request for aid from the Netherlands.
To make matters worse, Minister Emmanuel’s statement was reiterated on October 26, 2017, as follows: “I have said it before and I will say it again anyone agreeing with the conditions should not be part of this government Read more

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Mp Wescot Inquires About Gebe’S Electricity Supply And Load Shedding. Questions Initiatives For Alternative Forms Of Energy.

PHILIPSBURG:---With the recent  spikes (again) in electricity outages/load shedding and GEBE's statements regarding same, such as regular maintenance, unexpected stoppages, safety concerns, overheating and such, MP Wescot urgently requested Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure, the Honourable Mr. Christophe Emmanuel to answer the following questions:

nt spikes (again) in electricity outages/load shedding and GEBE's statements regarding same, such as regular maintenance, unexpected stoppages, safety concerns, overheating and such, MP Wescot urgently requested Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure, the Honourable Mr Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Our governing program for 2016-2020 is entitled, “Stability for Prosperity”. It is anchored on five strategic objectives, all of which can only be achieved by upgrading our government apparatus. We are not even one year into this governing period yet and we can see that various initiatives that are geared towards a profound transformation of our society are already taking shape. One of those initiatives is why we are gathered here today. Nobody knows the challenges that this coalition government faces better than the civil servants who do their utmost day in, day out, to give professional support to government Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On July 1st, Parliament went on a four-week recess and will resume on Monday, July 31st. In December/January upcoming, Parliament will also take a two-week recess. I hope that our MPs are aware of the fact that a parliamentary recess is not a holiday and that they can be called back to work during their recess.

The website of the Dutch Second Chamber or Parliament describes its recess as follows: “during the recess periods, the Second Chamber does not convene. Members of the Chamber can study various files and documents and prepare themselves for the next session of meetings Read more

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Mp Tamara Leonard Queries Functioning Of Airport, And If There Is Any Truth To Board Member Johan “Alex” Dijkhoffz Threatening To Have Employees In Management Fired.

PHILIPSBURG:--- MP Tamara Leonard claims that in the absence of an official Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs at the time, several questions were posed to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Rafael Boasman who also functioned as acting Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs.

An attempt to answer these questions took place in the meeting regarding the affairs of the Princess Juliana International Airport, by Minister Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher on June 28th, 2017.

Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard requested the answers from the minister in written form during the adjournment which was not given before the meeting resumed Read more

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Scdf Requests To Take Over Management Festival Village.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has written to Prime Minister William Marlin and Minister Silveria Jacobs requesting the opportunity to manage the St Read more

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MARIGOT:--- Drs. Martin Wilson has left his political party the MJP to endorse Jacques “Billy D” Hamlet for deputy in the French Parliament. Wilson said he is simply “honoring his word” to Hamlet who supported the Alliance for Hope, Justice, and Prosperity (MJP) in the territorial election of March 2017 on French St. Martin.
Drs Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- During his recent visit to St. Maarten, Mr. Rudy Croes paid a courtesy visit to DP leader, Sarah Wescot-Williams, also in his capacity as vice-chairperson of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (COPPAL).

The Democratic Party is a long-standing member of COPPAL, however during the last couple of years, has been inactive as far as this regional political body is concerned.
COPPAL is an international organization of political parties in Latin America and the Caribbean Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Sint Maarten Christian Party welcomes the two proposals made by President of Parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams, to improve the functioning of Parliament. One proposal increases the transparency and accountability of parliamentarians towards the voters and the other proposal improves the communication between parliament and the people Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---- On Friday, March 3, 2017, the civil servants of the secretariat of Parliament took an oath or pledge of office before the President of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot Williams, during Parliament’s first ever oath and pledge ceremony for its staff members. Also in attendance for this occasion were Vice President MP drs Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Today, two months after the new Council of Ministers was sworn in, we still do not have a Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication (TEATT). The blame for this has been placed on the vetting or screening process. However, in truth and in fact, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of our parliament.

Now, the USP will have to present another candidate minister and the screening process will start all over again Read more

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The Hague:--- Minister Plenipotentiary, H.E. Mrs. H. Doran York, was honored with an official visit from His Excellency, Mr. Urs Breiter, resident Ambassador of Switzerland to the Netherlands, since September 2014.
During his introduction to the Minister Plenipotentiary, the Ambassador informed her of the pending assignment of the new Honorary Consul for Switzerland to Sint Maarten, Curacao and Aruba, Mr. T. Markert.
Mr. Markert will be the successor of the current Consul, Mr. Mike Koch who will be relinquishing his post Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---- I must commend our parliamentarians for raising the budget debate in the Central Committee a notch higher this year. Compared to the debate on the 2016 Budget, Parliamentarians were better prepared to deal with details, to ask critical questions and to consequently carry out one of their very important functions, namely to control and monitor Government.
Parliamentarians were in their right to call out the NA-DP-USP-Lake-Matser caretaker Government and Ministers on the 2016 expenditures of the country Read more

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Lack Of Unity Apparent On St. Martin’S Day.

MARIGOT/PHILIPSBURG:----The annual St. Maarten/St. Martin day celebration was this year blighted by a marked lack of unity as the absence of members of the St. Maarten Executive Council was apparent at the usually joint commemoration activity on November 11th.

A decision was taken by the afore mentioned Executive Council not to attend the celebratory activities which were held this year on the French St. Martin. Both sides of the island alternate the hosting of activities to observe St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister Arrindell has stated that the tone and content, which consisted of innuendos, accusations, and condemnations made toward her in the editorial written by Mr. Hilbert Haar in which he stated that it appeared that she has been lying about the candidacy of Mr. Rolando Brison as the Interim Director of the Sint Maarten Tourism Authority Foundation (STA), and that contrary to what the Minister claimed in August, Mr Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:----- “The loss of human life and the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew in southwestern Haiti on October 4 are no longer among the hot news of the day. But we can still help to relieve the hardships that the storm piled on the people of our fellow Caribbean country,” said drs. Gracita Arrindell, leader of the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA).

Arrindell, who personally responded to calls earlier this month from relief organizers to contribute hurricane relief goods for Haiti, said that she has faith in the St Read more

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Another Coalition Government For St. Maarten --- Stability Not Guaranteed With New Elections.

Alleged vote buying rampant on Monday.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The early elections called by the Governor St. Maarten, when it was requested by former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, did not change anything for St. Maarten, instead it opens the door for more instability. Another very unfortunate situation the election called on September 26th created was vote buying by at least one particular political party who also even refused to comply with the laws laid down by the Minister of Justice Read more

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