SXMElections.com

Heyliger Predicts Gloom And Doom

UP-leader hints at election delay and casino licenses

St. Maarten News – Governor Eugène Holiday may have said September 26 is the final date for elections in the December 14 national decree, but United People’s (UP) party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Theo Heyliger says there is “a huge possibility” the Coalition of Eight, at least by mid-year, will request “yet another postponement” of the ballot.

The postponement of the elections, issuance of at least new two casino licenses, the formation of new marketing firms, rather than the implementation of the tourism authority, the non-institution of the Integrity Chamber and the resulting silence of the Dutch Government are among the top ten things that will happen in 2016, Heyliger said in a press release..

“The National Alliance leader said in a past Council of Ministers press conference he will seek the support of the kingdom government on electoral reform Read more

Pm Marlin: “First Electoral Reform” No Elections In February

Ministers Silveria Jacobs, William Marlin and Emil Lee (l.t.r.) at the first press briefing of the new cabinet Read more

Samuel And Richardson Return To Parliament

Rodolphe Samuel and Hyacinth Richardson (third and second from right) wait to be sworn in. Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – Rodolphe Samuel and Hyacinth Richardson took the empty seats of National Alliance faction leader William Marlin and Silveria Jacobs yesterday afternoon in parliament, after a small committee of three, consisting of MPs Leona Marlin-Romeo, Dr Read more

Up-Board Slams Coalition “The Dp Membership Is In Shambles”

St. Maarten – “History surely repeats itself and it seems more so in the formation of the coalition of eight,” United People’s Party (UP) President Sylvia Meyers said in a press statement on behalf of her party’s board yesterday. 

“Imagine the UP-led coalition was heavily criticized for not having a full council of ministers appointed and today the coalition of eight is greeted with the same reality.  Out of seven ministerial positions, they were only able to fill five.” 

“The National Alliance should have led with the same collective responsibility any coalition faces and not hide behind a press release only promoting their minister nominees having passed the screening,” the release states. 

“We are closely monitoring the inconsistencies and political rhetoric which clearly indicates of a weak new majority government.  It is quite obvious there is an apparent weakness in the new coalition and further testimony is the new recruitment effort of the Democratic Party led-ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor with the placement of an advertisement in the daily newspapers looking for persons to join the cabinet.” 

According to the UP-board it is “unheard of when the DP cannot find individuals within its own ranks to join its cabinet.  It’s a crying shame that they have to resort to this route.  It’s widely known the DP membership is in shambles and it seems no better way to recruit new members than by promising cabinet jobs.” 

“We will continue to be the eyes and ears of the people who undoubtedly continue to support us knowing all the trials and tribulations we’ve faced during the past 11-months,” the statement continues Read more

Usm Among Priorities For New Education Minister

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - New Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, Silveria Jacobs, took the oath of office on Thursday afternoon.

Jacobs who is a former Minister of the National Alliance, took the oath of office on Thursday afternoon at the Governor’s office in Harbor View.

Speaking to our news department and in outlining the tasks ahead, the now former Member of Parliament of the National Alliance spoke of some of the priority areas that she was forced to leave behind in the past and her new priorities as well.

Former National Alliance MP's Jacobs and Marlin vacated their seats in Parliament to serve in the Executive of Government and they will be replaced in Parliament by former MP's of the National Alliance Hyacinth Richardson and drs Read more

City Manager Announces Retirement Date, Service To Tallahassee Spans 25 Years

SISTER CITY TALLAHASSEE, united States of America - Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson announced that she will retire effective November 20, 2015.

“When I became City Manager in 1997, I made the commitment to always put people first and to focus on providing the best services possible to meet the needs of our community,” Favors Thompson said.

“Through my 25 years working for the city and through challenges and accomplishments, I’ve never wavered in my belief that a city’s greatest asset is its people Read more

Seven New Political Parties Report For 2016 Elections

St. Maarten – An astonishing number of seven new political parties reported to the offices of the Electoral Council yesterday to submit their request to be registered for the February 9 elections. Among them is the St. Maarten Christian Party, led by Pastor Wycliffe Smith. On the other hand, the party of European Dutch residents did not show up, reportedly because they did not have enough time to prepare their documentation.

With the seven new parties – if they get all their formalities in order – the field for the elections will consist of eleven and possibly twelve parties Read more

Winners And Losers: Who Will Survive The Polls In February?

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – February 9, 2016 is crunch day for politicians and those who aspire to become one. The parliamentary elections – for some mysterious reason perceived by some as ‘snap elections’, whatever that may be – will give voters the opportunity to speak their mind about the constitutional drama that concluded on Wednesday when the ministers of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet tendered their resignation and Governor Drs Read more

“Saying That Elections Will Stop Ship Jumping Is Lying To Voters”

St. Maarten – Parliamentarians bitched and moaned about rules and regulations yesterday all the way until the final vote on the two motions the new majority presented yesterday morning. It was a losing battle for the opposition UP and its faithful independents and in the end, it did not change anything at all.

Independent MP Cornelius de Weever started with an attack on the new president of parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- During its review of the donation registrations of political parties, the Electoral Council noted that several parties received an excess of what is legally allowed in donations. Both the donors who exceeded the donation limit and the parties were informed about this matter in the month of June of this year. Three parties were requested to return excess donations as is stipulated by law and to submit evidence thereof to the Electoral Council. These parties are the Democratic Party, the National Alliance and the United People Party Read more

Parliament Discusses The Dissolution Of Parliament

St. Maarten – Parliament meets on Wednesday morning at 10.a.m. to discuss the dissolution of parliament. On the same day, the minister of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet are at the Governor’s cabinet to sign their resignation letters. Governor Holiday has confirmed that he will subsequently sign the national decree to dissolve the parliament.

National Alliance MPs George Pantophlet, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel requested the meeting in a letter dated October 20.

The meeting will be broadcast live on St Read more

Independent Mp Leona Marlin-Romeo Invited To Join New Coalition

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - With the expected snap elections now just around the corner, the independent members of Parliament have been giving the electorate more insight into the inner workings that led them to becoming independent members of Parliament.

Seemingly Independent Member of Parliament, the Honorable Leona Marlin-Romeo was asked by the leader of the United St Read more

Urgent Plenary session of the House about Dissolution of Parliament set for October 28

>PHILIPSBURG:----  The House of Parliament will meet in an urgent plenary session on October 28 to discuss the dissolution of Parliament.

The public Plenary Session is set for Wednesday, at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg.
The agenda point is the decision of the Council of Ministers to dissolve Parliament.

This meeting of the House was requested by the National Alliance Faction Members of Parliament (MPs) G.C Read more

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs: “I Will Not Back Down”

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs (left) makes his position perfectly clear while Ministers Hassink, Sams and Connor look on. Photo Today / Andrew Dick

St. Maarten – “I will not back down,” Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs told this newspaper yesterday afternoon while he was walking back to the government building, where earlier yesterday he shed his light once more on the constitutional crisis that holds the country in a deadly embrace.

Professor Arjen van Rijn repeated yesterday in the Antilliaans Dagblad his firm position on the constitutional crisis: when the parliament hits, the cabinet is allowed to hit back Read more

Na Leader Questions Interpretation Of The Constitution By Council Of Ministers

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - National Alliance Leader MP the Honorable William Marlin took a critical look Sunday on the latest release form the Cabinet of the Governor as well as similar situations of the past.

The press conference of the “majority of 8” and which was held Sunday afternoon at the Parliament building was called for by the DP leader MP the honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams Read more

Governor’S Explosive 2013 Letter Supports Dissolution Parliament

Possible elections pushed back to February 2016

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has sent an amended national decree to dissolve the parliament to Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday on Wednesday that would push elections back to February of next year. The amendment to the decree was necessary because the Electoral Council needs more time to give possible new parties the opportunity to register.

An explosive letter Governor Holiday wrote in May 2013 and to then Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams shows that, at that time, the governor supported the dissolution of parliament Read more

>Simpson Bay:--- An early Sunday morning shooting has left one person dead. The shooting took place shortly after 9am Sunday morning by Robbie’s Lottery located at La Palapa building in Simpson Bay. Persons on the scene said the victim that was shot dead seems to be an employee working for Robbie’s Lottery and he apparently got shot while trying to open the business place. However, that could not be confirmed by anyone. SMN News further learnt that the victim is of Latino decent.
SMN News contacted Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson for confirmation on the shooting, Henson who was on the scene of the shooting said “I am not giving you any information Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The eight Members of Parliament that now has the majority in Parliament told members of the media that the Governor of St. Maarten already made a clear decision on the current political situation. Leader of the National Alliance MP William Marlin said that the Governor Eugene Holiday clearly informed the Council of Ministers situation in 2013 is the same as the current situation because there is a majority in Parliament that are ready to form a government.
Marlin said the Governor told the Council of Ministers that the constitution of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Today our young island nation is in a constitutional crisis because of the different interpretations of articles #33 and #59 of our constitution. The Council of Ministers has requested the opinions of various Dutch constitutional experts from the Hague. Our governor has taken the high road and requested three judges to provide an advice on this political impasse in five working days. We don’t know if the eight majority in the parliament of St. Maarten has acquired advice from any legal minds locally or from the Hague.
What bothers me is that time after time our elected officials especially those supporting the Council of Ministers have ridiculed the same Dutch for meddling in our internal affairs Read more

Governor requests judges to evaluate positions in ongoing political impasse

~ To provide advice in five working days ~

 HARBOUR VIEW--Governor Eugene Holiday has requested that “a special panel of three judges” from the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba and the Constitutional Court of St. Maarten “evaluate the constitutionality of the implementation of the political positions” in the current impasse between Parliament and the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet.

Due to the urgency of the situation, the panel has been requested “to provide an advice within five working days.”

The “independent” panel is specifically requested to evaluate the Constitution in the context of the country’s Constitutional Law to “provide a clear legal position regarding Articles 33, paragraph 2; Article 40; paragraph 2 and Article 59 of the Constitution.”

The Governor met with all parties involved in the impasse on Friday to inform them that he deemed it “prudent” to install the special panel to obtain an urgent advice Read more

Dissolution decree corrected, sent back to Governor for his signature

PHILIPSBURG--It looks like elections on December 8 may still be in the cards. The Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has made adjustments to its draft national decree to dissolve Parliament and has sent it back to Governor Eugene Holiday for his signature.

The draft decree was sent to Holiday on the night of September 30, hours after the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition passed a motion of no confidence against the seven-member Cabinet Read more

Sarah elected new Parliament Chair in spite of De Weever’s cancellation

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams is again at the helm of Parliament. She was elected Parliament Chairwoman by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition in an extraordinary meeting of Parliament on Thursday evening Read more

Government has ‘autonomous right’ to dissolve Parliament

~ Governor wrote in 2013 letter ~

PHILIPSBURG--“The right to dissolve Parliament by national decree is a constitutional and autonomous right of the Government,” wrote Governor Eugene Holiday in a letter dated May 16, 2013, to then-Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams when she tried to stopped the then-National Alliance (NA)-led Council of Ministers from invoking Article 59 of the Constitution.

The letter came to light this week as political tension intensified between the newest NA-led coalition with a majority in Parliament and the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo-supported Council of Ministers, after the crumbling of the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

The current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has held tight to the view that it is its right to dissolve Parliament in the face of the shifted majority in Parliament Read more

De Weever cancels NA meeting, cites safety, security challenges

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Chairman Cornelius de Weever has cancelled the Parliament meeting called by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition for today, Thursday, at 6:00pm citing in a letter to Members of Parliament (MPs) “the current safety and security challenges.”

The new coalition had decided to bypass submitting a request for a Parliament meeting to De Weever and had instead sent out on convocation letter on Wednesday to all MPs directly to attend an “urgent meeting” today.

The meeting had as its main agenda point the appointment of a chairperson, and a second deputy chairperson.

The letter, signed by the eight MPs of the new coalition, stated “in view of the recent developments” during meetings of Parliament, they have “all agreed” that today’s meeting would be chaired by MP George Pantophlet (NA).

De Weever in his letter to the MPs this afternoon said he took note of meeting time Read more