SXMElections.com

US spending bill likely to pass Senate, may take a few days

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Senate looked set to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill but it might need a few days to overcome procedural hurdles before voting on legislation that averts a government shutdown and ends jitters over major budget standoffs until next fall.

After the House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill late on Thursday following a battle that exposed fraying unity in President Barack Obama's Democratic Party, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid hoped the bill would pass on Friday to spare Americans the drama of yet another budget crisis.

Reid and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell labored to steer the massive spending bill toward passage late Friday but it was unclear whether they could get it done without delay.

Any senator can hold up the vote Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- A board member of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Elston Fos was attacked in his yard by a lone gunman late Friday night. SMN News understands that Fos who lives in the Belvedere area escaped unharmed because the weapon the gunman tried to fire at him jammed. It should be noted that Fos is the board member of the SMHDF along with another board member who suspended Henry Lynch on Friday morning for financial discrepancies.
Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte confirmed that the SMHDF board member was attacked by a lone gunman but the weapon malfunctioned Read more

De Weever severs ties with Democratic Party

PHILIPSBURG--New Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever has severed ties with the Democratic Party (DP), under whose slate he contested the August 29 parliamentary elections and secured a seat.

De Weever said in a press statement issued by his Cabinet on Thursday that he had notified DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams that he “has now officially resigned from the party.” De Weever, who also functions as caretaker Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs, said he informed Wescot-Williams “that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby resign my affiliation with the Democratic Party.

“I campaigned as a new democrat with a new Democratic Party, but it is readily apparent to many that it is the same old political strategy of trying to shame and blame,” he said Read more

>GREAT BAY:--- Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius de Weever has notified the leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot-Williams that he has now officially resigned from the party.
Minister De Weever informed the leader that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby RESIGN my affiliation with the Democratic Party Read more

Minister De Weever Resigns From The Democratic Party

GREAT BAY, St. Martin - Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius de Weever has notified the leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot-Williams that he has now officially resigned from the party.

Minister De Weever informed the leader that due to the manner in which she and/or the DP publicly tried to portray me in a negative light, I have decided to reconsider my future with the DP and hereby RESIGN my affiliation with the Democratic Party.

I campaigned as a New Democrat with a "new" Democratic Party but it is readily apparent to many that it is the same old political strategy of trying to shame and blame.

Minister De Weever further stated that he expected an internal "issue" to be handled internally, professionally and avoid giving others more ammunition against St Read more

Renovation Golden Rock Homes cancelled!

Dear Editor,

The working relationship with the Dutch housing corporation Woonlinie and St. Eustatius is again in jeopardy. Free advice and financial aid has been turned down by government, which makes the future of decent low-income housing for Statia's citizens dimmer than ever before. Particularly, the apparent reason behind all of this is baffling.

The agreed upon interim director, supplied by Woonlinie, who had as his mission the reorganisation and strengthening of the housing foundation has left the island after Commissioner Zaandam told him that his skin colour was not suitable to lead the foundation Read more

Hassink: Country operating in financial ‘crisis management’

PHILIPSBURG--"We are operating in a crisis management situation," Finance Minister Martin Hassink said in describing the country's financial situation to Members of Parliament (MPs) when he outlined the government's earnings and expenditures for the first three quarters of 2014 in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Tuesday. The meeting will continue on Friday.

Government expenses are growing while its income has shrunk in some areas and stayed flat in others in spite of the economic growth forecast by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St Read more

Four minister candidates reportedly fail screening

PHILIPSBURG--It appears that efforts to put together a new cabinet have come up a few ministers short. Four of the minister candidates reportedly have failed the extensive screening to take up a post in what has been billed as the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet.

Those said to have failed the security and integrity screenings are finance minister candidate Richard Gibson Sr., health minister candidate Leroy de Weever, infrastructure minister candidate Peggy-Ann Brandon and deputy minister plenipotentiary candidate Lucas Berman.

According to people close to the issue, attorney and former minister in the Netherlands Antilles Gibson Sr Read more

Objections in Parliament to commonwealth proposal

~ Parties say decision is up to islands ~

THE HAGUE--The Labour Party PvdA, Democratic Party D66, Christian Democratic Party CDA and ChristianUnion (CU) turned down on Monday idea of the liberal democratic VVD party and the Socialist Party (SP) to establish a Dutch commonwealth construction with an independent position for Aruba, Curaçao and St Read more

Mp Dr. Lloyd Richardson Voted In As President Of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Members of Parliament in a Central Committee meeting on Monday morning, Member of Parliament of the United People's Party, the Honorable Lloyd Richardson was voted to the position as President of Parliament.

He is now replacing leader of the Democratic Party, Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams who resigned from the post on Thursday November 13th.

During the voting on Monday, Dr Read more

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

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

style="text-align: center;">UPP candidates fuming because they got no Ministerial Positions

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United Peoples Party (UPP) and formateur Theodore Heyliger has shuffled the deck of cards again as he tries to form the next government Read more

style="text-align: center;">DP Expelled MP De Weever from Democratic Party

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams sent an official letter to the leader of the UPP Theodore Heyliger informing him that she has withdrawn her support from his coalition government.
The letter sent to Heyliger is dated November 18th, 2014 Read more

Dp Board Seeking Expulsion Of Minister De Weever From Party

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The board of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten Tuesday sent a letter to MP the Honorable Cornelius de Weever in which they have clearly stated their intentions to expel him from the folds of the party.

The letter which is signed by the President and leader states that they have given MP de Weever the opportunity to appeal the decision of the board, however this appeal must be submitted by five 0'clock Friday afternoon.

According to the Leader of the Democratic Party MP the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams, MP C Read more

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

The St. Maarten Parliamentary Election Of August 29, 2014 Julio R. Romney

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The parliamentary election in St. Maarten on 29th of August marked a turbulent beginning to the new constituent state's political history.

The substantial loss of electorate support for the more seasoned (political) party leaders to second tier/ number two party members, the failure of only but two contesting candidates to receive the necessary electoral quota to secure a seat in parliament outright.

The eleventh hour of the appointed formateur to realize the formation of a prospective coalition government, with the subsequent appointment of two informateurs to facilitate a renewed attempt to garner political parties that are willing to come together and form a new prospective coalition government are but a few of the unanticipated consequences of the election.

Added to these and more startling was the Royal Decree issued (October 21, 2014) by the de facto Head of State i.e., the Kingdom Government/ the Kingdom Council of Ministers instructing the Governor of St Read more

André Bosman Fails To React – De Weever Takes Legal Action

St. Maarten – Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever will take legal action against VVD-MP André Bosman who did not react to a summons to retract “erroneous, slanderous and defaming statements” before the deadline of last Monday at 5 p.m. On September 30, four different newspapers quoted Bosman as saying, “Heyliger simply paid De Weever.”

The remark refers to De Weever’s decision to withdraw his support for a coalition of the National Alliance and the United St Read more

Financial reports catch up

GREAT BAY – The Central Committee of Parliament met yesterday afternoon under peculiar circumstances. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, the former president of parliament and now sitting on her chair as an elected MP for the Democratic Party quizzed Finance Minister Martin Hassink – member of the outgoing cabinet – about the 2011 financial statement 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

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

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

Former Minister Roland Tuitt: “Ser Used As Political Football”

St. Maarten – Former Finance Minister Roland Tuitt has lashed out at the Social Economic Council (SER) for its advice that calculates the total write-off of uncollected taxes between 1976 and 2006 at more than 4.4 billion guilders ($2.5 billion). In a statement that sums up ten reasons why there is nothing wrong with his decision to write off the old tax debts, the former minister, a certified public accountant, notes that the receiver ought to be investigated  for breaking the law by instructing employees to collect tax debts older than 2006. Read more

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