Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams was fully played by formateur Theodore Heyliger and Democratic Party member Cornelius de Weever. Wescot Williams told members of the media on Wednesday afternoon that she signed an agreement on the night of October 9th, 2014 on behalf of the Democratic Party with formateur Theodore Heyliger. That agreement she shared with reporters to show that she did not sign an agreement on her own behalf and furthermore all parties including Minister/Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever agreed that the nomination of Ministers will be done in consultation with parties. Wescot Williams said that the basis of that agreement is that integrity will be the government's number one priority, Ministers will be appointed in consultation with the coalition partners, while all government owned companies will be overhauled.Wescot Williams said based on the discussions she held with all parties including Petrus Leroy de Weever, MP Cornelius de Weever and formateur Theodore Heyliger, all parties agreed that the Democratic Party would appoint two Ministers, namely the Minister of VSA, Education or TEATT, the Democratic Party would also appoint one person for a post in the Netherlands while they will also get the chairmanship of Parliament. Wescot Williams said on October 28th, 2014 she submitted three names because later it was agreed that the Ministry of TEATT stays with the UPP. Therefore the Democratic Party submitted Emile Lee as the Minister of VSA, Yvette Halley as Minister of Education and Perry Kerlings as substitute Minister of Plenipotentiary. Wescot Williams said that she waited for two weeks and she did not get any response from the formateur but on November 10th, 2014 she received a letter from MP Cornelius de Weever informing her that he submitted two names to the formateur on behalf of the Democratic Party, those names are Petrus Leroy de Weever as Minister of VSA and Rita Gumbs as Minister of Education. Wescot Williams said when she got the letter from MP De Weever she contacted the formateur for an explanation and he responded by stating that the names submitted by "Connie" are more in line with the agreement and the scenario at hand.Wescot Williams said upon hearing that she penned a letter to the formateur to which she is expecting a response, in that letter she also informed him that she will make the position of chairperson of parliament available to him. Wescot Williams further explained that she sent a letter to MP Cornelius de Weever who is still a member of the Democratic Party and depending on his response the board of the Democratic Party will take a decision.Pressed by members of the media on whether or not she as leader of the Democratic Party will give her support to the coalition, Wescot Williams said that she prefers to wait on a response from the formateur before stating her position, she however stated that based on what transpired it is hardly likely that she will continue to give her support to the UPP/De Weever/Marlin coalition.SMN News reported several times that the current coalition government was in shambles, this media house also reported just two days ago that MP Lloyd Richardson got the Ministry of VSA and he was appointing Silvio Lindo as Minister. Just on Wednesday MP Lloyd Richardson confirmed to some of his colleagues that he got the Ministry of VSA, so while one of the UPP candidates believed that the name he submitted to the formateur for vetting went to the governor it is clear that is not the case because the formateur submitted the names to the Governor on Wednesday morning. THe list of names submitted to Governor Holiday surely does not have Silvio Lindo's name on it but it has been replaced by the man who formed the UPP/De Weever coalition, Petrus Leroy de Weever.
Click here to see agreement signed by Wescot Williams on behalf of the Democratic Party.
