Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
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
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
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
Sarah: Counterpart policy was ‘moot point,’ unclear why Cornelius de Weever defected
~ He has not resigned from DP ~
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams says the counterpart policy was a "moot point" and could not be the reason DP Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Cornelius de Weever had pulled his support from the slate on which he was elected to help United People's (UP) party form a one-seat Parliamentary majority.
Wescot-Williams told reporters at a press conference at Holland House Beach Hotel on Sunday that the policy never had been an issue, as De Weever's proposal in the Council of Ministers on August 12 to establish a counterpart policy had been approved.
De Weever indicated at the time that the policy would be introduced as a pilot programme in collaboration with social partners and said there were some businesses that were willing to work with him on the initiative Read more
Editorial - Better now than later
It seems the formation of a new government might not go as smoothly as expected after all. Although “formateur†William Marlin (NA) presented Governor Eugene Holiday with his report and the incoming NA/DP/US coalition’s governing programme yesterday, DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed that her party’s number two vote-getter Cornelius de Weever had indicated meanwhile that he preferred to occupy his seat in Parliament rather than remain Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs as intended.
This creates a problem, because DP quickly will have to choose another nominee to become one of its two cabinet members, while the names of all seven candidate ministers already had been submitted Read more
Editorial - Solid enough
The names mentioned in today's paper as the reported candidates for the various positions of the incoming NA/DP/US-party coalition inspire confidence. The screening process will have to determine whether they all qualify in the end, but for now the apparent nominees certainly sound adequate.
It was already clear that NA leader William Marlin would be the next Prime Minister in charge of General Affairs, while the party's number three candidate and top vote-getter Silveria Jacobs had been a "shoo-in" to again become Minister of Education, Culture and Sports.
Whom NA would make its Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Development and the Environment VROMI was not known, but Rodolphe Samuel with his experience as President of Parliament certainly had been among the frontrunners for the job on the party's election list Read more
‘Janchi’ re-elected, in spite of tie with Buncamper-Molanus
PHILIPSBURG--Incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Johan "Janchi" Leonard (United People's (UP) party) can be considered the big winner after the validation of the votes from the August 29 Parliamentary Elections by the Central Voting Bureau on Wednesday. Leonard was short two votes to be re-elected to Parliament. He received those votes when the bureau reviewed ballots deemed invalid by the polling station on election night.
Leonard (UP #7) is an MP-elect for UP, in spite of the tie with former Minister Maria Buncamper-Molanus (UP #21), because of his placement on the party's list of candidates Read more