Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
St. Maarten – The police had to intervene and in the end, the Democratic Party yielded and took down its oversized political billboard at the Belvedere roundabout on Friday. Chief Commissioner Peter de Witte said that officers had checked the situation on Thursday and concluded that the billboard stood – as was obvious to everyone except the Democratic Party – on the roundabout.
On Wednesday, party-leader and Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams still declared that the situation did not fall within the description of a roundabout. “It is on private property, outside of what could be considered the perimeter of the roundabout,†Wescot-Williams insisted, adding that she had assessed the situation on site. “If the police have a different opinion we will of course remove it but in my opinion it is a little bit outside of what could be considered around a roundabout.â€
The DP has now indeed yielded to the assessment of the police, but the roundabout remains a popular spot for campaign material. There is still a small billboard of UP-candidate Miguel De Weever, right next to one of US Party leader Frans Richardson. Are these billboards “on the roundabout� Are they just outside the perimeter? Parties seem to be ready to split hairs over this question.
Across from the place where the DP had erected its now dismantled billboard (only the wooden framework remains as if it is waiting for a new tenant) the United People’s party parked a container with a huge billboard that shows all of its candidates. This billboard is awfully close to the roundabout and what’s more: the candidates are staring straight at the Delta Petroleum gas stations of DP candidate Roy Marlin.
