Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
~ 'Just a matter of time before another shifting' ~
PHILIPSBURG--"The sad reality" of politics in St. Maarten is that too many persons "peddle off" their parliamentary seats "to the highest bidder" and use their seat for leverage, former formateur William Marlin said on Sunday.
Marlin said he was not specifically referring to the trading of seats for financial gain, but the use of one's seat for opportunity, though he said he has heard about offers being made.
Marlin was at the time speaking at a press conference Sunday called to address the events leading up to the National Alliance/Democratic Party/ United St. Maarten Party (NA/DP/US Party) coalition losing its majority support at the eleventh hour just before the formateur had to report to Governor Eugene Holiday on the formation of the new government last week.
Rather than approaching politics from the standpoint of being part of a political party with a vision; some still look at it from the perspective of if he or she jumps ship and declares him or herself independent, that individual will be able to acquire some amount of leverage, the NA leader said. He said too that some were influenced by others to "set themselves up" to increase their leverage.
Marlin said while the latest developments were "unfortunate," this was how the country's democracy functioned. The law does not prohibit a Member of Parliament (MP) from using his or her seat to shift the balance of power. It was the personal choice of an elected MP, Marlin said alluding to the NA/DP/US Party coalition losing its majority support when DP MP-elect Cornelius de Weever pulled his support.
Marlin said the coalition had been cognisant that it had a one seat majority and that it could take just one person to "bring it down," but parties knew that they had to rely on the support of each other.
Marlin said some persons in the community believe that Parliament should prioritise changing the system to prevent this from occurring.
He said it was "just a matter of time" before the public would see another shifting in the balance of power in Parliament. "There is never a dull moment in St. Maarten's politics," he said adding that persons should "stay tuned for the next episode."
The NA leader said he realised that there had been problems in the coalition when he received a message last week to this effect, but he shrugged it off to "someone playing games again." He received several subsequent reports about issues in the coalition and still believed it had been an internet prank. He contacted DP member Michael Ferrier who informed him that De Weever had indicated that he no longer wanted to serve as Minister and instead wanted to sit as MP.
At one point, Marlin contacted De Weever in his capacity as formateur regarding the documents the DP MP-elect had submitted for vetting to become a minister. One or two documents had been missing from the package of documents submitted by some of the candidate ministers and Marlin needed clarity from De Weever regarding his documents. De Weever subsequently went and picked up the copies of his documents submitted for vetting "to clarify something" and was not heard from since.
Regarding last week's appointment of Marcel Gumbs and Joe Richardson as informateurs to explore the formation of a new government, Marlin said that neither he, and up to last night, nor any of the NA MPs-elect had been approached by either of those appointed regarding this process. While as formateur Marlin worked on the formation of a new government amongst the three parties that had an agreement to form a majority. Marlin said the goal of informateurs was to explore the possibilities amongst political parties to form a government.
Marlin used much of Sunday's press conference to shed light on the governing programme compiled by the work group members, whom he lauded for their hard work in putting the comprehensive document together. The work group comprised nine persons, three from each of the coalition partners. De Weever was appointed by the DP as one of the work group members.
Marlin said the work group had worked sometimes around the clock and the final document had been "well thought out" and included the vision of the coalition parties.
The governing programme includes plans for lowering the cost of electricity for residents, equipping some entities such as the senior citizens home in Belvedere with solar panels to lower electricity costs, addressing some of the issues in school bussing, sewage lines in St. Peters, purchase of Emilio Wilson Estate, SMART metering, bolstering tourism among many other issues.
Marlin opened the press conference saying that many persons had approached him enquiring about the latest political developments and about the three-party coalition given the developments of late.
He said the public had questions after Marlin, who had been appointed formateur, had met with Holiday last week Wednesday on the formation process and the UP leader Theo Heyliger had met with Holiday on Thursday on a new majority in Parliament. Marlin said it had been necessary to give clarity from the perspective of the formateur.
Also present at the press conference were representatives of DP and US Party.
