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Sarah withdraws her support from coalition

PHILIPSBURG--Just over a month after gaining the support of ten Members of Parliament (MPs), the United People's (UP) coalition has lost the support of one partner: Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

The withdrawal of support for the coalition has been considered a foregone conclusion since earlier this month, after Wescot-Williams announced that her party's minister candidates had been passed over in favour of those submitted by DP parliamentarian Cornelius de Weever to formateur of the new cabinet UP leader Theo Heyliger Read more

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DP moves to ‘expel’ De Weever from ranks

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) has moved to expel Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever from its ranks. The party has given De Weever until 5:00pm today, Friday, to appeal his expulsion if he so wishes.

De Weever, who is off-island, has not responded to requests for a comment on what he intends to do in the face of his pending expulsion.

De Weever was informed of his pending expulsion from St Read more

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Japan PM seeks verdict on "Abenomics" in snap election

TOKYO--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament's lower house on Friday for a snap election on Dec. 14, seeking a fresh mandate for his struggling "Abenomics" revival strategy just two years after he returned to power promising that "Japan is Back".

Abe had vowed to revive the economy with a mix of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms, while moving ahead with plans to rein in Japan's massive public debt. But doubts have grown about his strategy, especially after data showed this week that the economy had surprisingly slipped into recession in the third quarter after an initial rise in the sales tax to 8 percent from April.

"This is an 'Abenomics' snap election Read more

Sarah questions reason for voting discrepancies meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams wants an elaboration on the request for a Central Committee meeting on election day "discrepancies" as called for by MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Tamara Leonard (United People's party) and Cornelius de Weever (DP) Read more

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Country’s old annual accounts handled by parliamentarians

PHILIPSBURG--The 2011 annual account covering the first year of country status was dealt with in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Monday.

Finance Minister Martin Hassink told Members of Parliament (MPs) the handling of the account was "far overdue," but a lot of hurdles and bottlenecks had to be overcome to get the report completed.

The report was compiled with "outside help" while those for the two subsequent years were put together internally.

The third quarter financial report for this year is completed and will be forwarded to parliament soon Read more

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De Weever to take Bosman to court

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever is poised to take Dutch Parliament Second Chamber Member Andre Bosman to court over allegations Bosman made about him, as well as Bosman's refusal to retract his "slanderous" remarks about De Weever.

De Weever's attorney Jairo Bloem confirmed that a case against Bosman would be filed in the Netherlands Read more

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Parliament to discuss election discrepancies

PHILIPSBURG--Reported discrepancies and issues at polling stations on Election Day, August 29, will be discussed when Members of Parliament (MPs) who were elected on that day meet in a public Central Committee session with the Central Voting Bureau and Civil Registry in Parliament House on Tuesday starting at 2:00pm.

MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Tamara Leonard (United People's party) and Cornelius de Weever (Democratic Party) requested the meeting.

In their request letter, the MPs said there had been discrepancies at the Pointe Blanche House of Detention polling station, use of foreign identification for voting, discrepancies in ballot counting at specific polling stations, discrepancies in privacy during the supporting of the candidate lists and discrepancies in the information given to political parties about placement of campaign material.

Points to be brought forward in the meeting are changes in the Electoral Law, increased number of polling stations in 2014 compared to 2010 and implementation of electronic voting, among others.

The parliamentary session is open to the public and will be carried live on St Read more

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Lee calls on ‘opposition’ to form ‘united coalition’

DAWN BEACH--Democratic Party (DP) candidate hotelier Emil Lee has called on the "opposition" in Parliament, which now includes his party leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams, to form "a united coalition" to provide "quality opposition in Parliament."

Lee was the 12th highest vote getter out of 90 candidates who contested the August 29 Parliamentary Elections and was the third highest vote getter of his party Read more

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Heyliger says impasse looms

THE HAGUE--St. Maarten’s United People’s Party (UP) Leader Theo Heyliger said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on Wednesday that an impasse was imminent in the conflict with the Netherlands about the extra screening of the candidate prime minister and ministers Read more

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Sarah tenders her resignation

Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams caucuses with Parliament Presidium members MPs Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin-Romeo on whether she should continue chairing Thursday’s session of Parliament after she submitted her resignation as Parliament head (Rajesh Chintaman photo) Read more

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BIP law approved by Parliament Thursday

PHILIPSBURG--The first formal step in the establishment of the Bureau Intellectual Property (BIP) was cemented Thursday when Parliament approved the law regulating the bureau. All eleven Members of Parliament (MPs) present for the plenary session of Parliament individually voted to adopt the legislation.

The establishment of the bureau has been pending in the form of the draft legislation since the final days of the Netherlands Antilles Parliament. The draft was taken over by the St. Maarten Parliament upon the attainment of country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom on October 10, 2010.

The meeting to approve this piece of legislation was before Parliament twice before, but the sessions had to be cancelled due to no quorum Read more

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Sarah makes position as Parliament head available

PHILIPSBURG--President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has made her position as head of the legislature available to the United People's (UP) party-led coalition.

This move by Wescot-Williams comes a month and two days after she was appointed to the post on October 10 Read more

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Minister candidates submitted to governor

HARBOUR VIEW--The names of the minister candidates for the new cabinet were submitted to Governor Eugene Holiday by formateur United People's (UP) leader Theo Heyliger on Wednesday. The security and judicial screenings of the candidates for the post of prime minister, the six other ministers and minister plenipotentiary has commenced, according to the governor's cabinet.

Holiday and Heyliger met yesterday to discuss the progress of the formation process Read more

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Aruba instruction causes standoff

THE HAGUE--The debate with Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Thursday to discuss the financial supervision in the Dutch Caribbean resulted in a clash with the governing parties VVD and PvdA, the Socialist Party (SP) on one side and the Democratic Party D66 on the other side.

The meeting called for by the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations focused on the July 2014 instruction of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to Aruba’s Governor Fredis Refunjol not to sign the 2014 budget until it had been thoroughly screened by outside experts Read more

Aruba instruction focus in today’s Parliament debate

THE HAGUE--The Democratic Party D66 in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament and the liberal democratic VVD party will be diametrically opposing each other on the validity of the July 2014 instruction to Aruba during a debate with Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk today, Thursday.

The finances of the Aruba Government will prominently feature in today's meeting which takes place at the request of the Second Chamber's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations to discuss financial supervision in the Dutch Kingdom, including St Read more

No quorum stalls meeting on Intellectual Property Bureau

PHILIPSBURG--Only six Members of Parliament (MPs) were signed in for the plenary session of Parliament to formalise the Intellectual Property Bureau on Wednesday afternoon, two short of the quorum of eight MPs needed for the meeting to start.

The meeting now will have to be reconvened by Chairwoman of Parliament MP Sarah Wescot-Williams within four days (four times 24 hours) as stipulated by Parliament's Rules of Order Read more

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Marcel Gumbs tipped to be prime minister

PHILIPSBURG--It appears United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger will stick to his seat in Parliament instead of opting to become prime minister of the new UP/Democratic Party/Marlin-Romeo coalition.

Veteran politician Marcel Gumbs has been tipped as a possible candidate for prime minister Read more

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