Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
The concern expressed by "formateur" Theo Heyliger to NRC Handelsblad (see Friday edition) for an impasse over the appointment of future cabinet members may have diminished somewhat. Part of the reason would be statements by Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk in today's paper in connection with the decision not to issue a new instruction on an integrity action plan for the local law enforcement sector.
When asked about the existing instruction for screening proposed ministers, he said the process was in the hands of Governor Eugene Holiday, who is responsible for such. One could deduce from this reply that the governor will be given certain leeway by The Hague to execute his task, so that the announced security and judicial "vetting" of candidates based on the established regulations of Country St. Maarten "with some additional questions seeking more information" might well prove enough after all.
As stated before, the fact that the UP leader failed to nominate himself probably played a role in the lack of an angry reaction from the Dutch minister to the official rejection of the instruction by the caretaker government in Philipsburg. Since then Plasterk has notably changed his tone to one of preferring cooperation rather than more confrontation with the island.
People can think of the latter what they want, but at this stage a normalisation of ties with the Netherlands seems desirable, regardless of the motivation's validity. Like it or not, if everything works out and a new Council of Ministers is installed in the end, that will be largely thanks to Heyliger having put the general interest first.
