SXMElections.com

Mp Frans Richardson Sounds The Alarm: Social Media Messages: Kill The Prime Minister

St. Maarten News – Messages on social media suggest killing the prime minister, members of parliament and their corrupted friends, MP Frans Richardson said during a meeting of parliament about vote buying. While Richardson considered there threats far more important than the issue of vote buying, no other MP even reacted to his statement.

“I am going to protect myself and my family,” Richardson said Read more

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Little Opposition To 2016 Draft Budget

MP Tamara Leonard: “I feel like we have to take a hit too.” Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten News – The parliament seemed to be going in record tempo through the debate about the draft 2016 budget yesterday. By 6.35 p.m. all speakers had put in their two cents in the first round; only nine MPs used their right to address the issue Read more

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Wescot-Williams (Dp): “First Get The Hospital  On A Good Footing”

St. Maarten – “It is important to know where we stand. Before we start about a new hospital, the St. Maarten Medical Center must be on a good footing,” DP-leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said at a press briefing yesterday afternoon Read more

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University Launches Online Journal

Partial screenshot of the website that hosts the online journal. Image usmonline.net

University of St. Martin (USM) President Dr. Francio Guadeloupe launched the online journal Commentaries at an informal ceremony. The university will host an official launch at the end of January 2016. Joshue Ferrol maintains the website and Pedro de Weever edits the journal

“Commentaries features scientific and popular essays from the Dutch Caribbean (and St. Maarten in particular),” Guadeloupe said in a press statement Read more

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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

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Mp Johan Leonard About The Cause Of Ship Jumping: Our Party Leaders Blatantly Disrespect Their Members

MP Heyliger is still smiling after the severe criticism from his fellow-faction member Johan Leonard (left). Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – The attitude of party leaders is the main reason for ship jumping, United People’s party MP Johan Leonard said yesterday morning in an unexpected sharp attack on UP-leader Theo Heyliger Read more

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St. Maarten Day Speeches Focus On Cooperation

From left: Collectivité President Aline Hanson, Préfète Délégué Anne Laubies, Governor Eugène Holiday, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, Chief Inspector Denise Jacobs, Franklin Richards, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, MP Cornelius de Weever, Justice Minister Dennis Richardson and Education Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs at the border monument in Cole Bay Read more

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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

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“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

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Dp Criticizes Mp De Weever: “Counterpart Policy Is A Sure Recipe For Massive Lay-Offs”

St. Maarten – “As much as he tries, MP and former Minister OF Public health, Social Development and Labor Cornelius de Weever will never be able to convince anyone that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to “his” counterpart law,” Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams states in a press release Read more

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University Reminds Government Of Promise To Increase Subsidy

St. Maarten – On May 20 the Board of the University of St. Maarten Foundation, assisted by its management team, discussed the developments of the University with the parliamentary committee of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport Affairs. During that meeting, which was chaired by MP Silveria Jacobs, Minister of Education Rita Bourne-Gumbs made two public promises Read more

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Labor Minister Boasman Indexes Minimum Wage

St. Maarten – The indexing of the minimum wage will go into effect in January 2016 according Minister of Labor Raphael Boasman said this week. Minimum wage earners will get 8 more cents on top of their current hourly wage of 8.75 and receive 8.83 guilders per hour. Last year, former Minister Cornelius de Weever also indexed the minimum wage Read more

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Job Fair At Nipa Opens Tomorrow At 10Am – Ricardo Perez: “This Event Will Show Real Unemployment Data”

Ricardo Perez. Photo contributed

St. Maarten – The job fair the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association hosts at the National Institute of Professional advancement (Nipa) in Cay Hill tomorrow in partnership with the labor department’s Start Here Campaign will be the true measure of unemployment on the island, says Ricardo Perez, manager of the Oyster Bay Beach Resort and Executive Board Director of the SHTA.

“The private sector cannot find people, let alone qualified ones,” Perez says in his office at the Oyster Bay Beach Resort Read more

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Chair Aborts Meeting Within Sixty Seconds: New Majority Calls Action Mp De Weever Illegal

St. Maarten – Acting as the second vice president of Parliament, independent MP Cornelius de Weever wrong-footed parliament yesterday morning by opening and closing a meeting designed to appoint a new chair within sixty seconds after which he “ran out of the hall,” according to Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

De Weever called on article 37 of the rules of order, after remarking that the cabinet had submitted a national decree to dissolve parliament Read more

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St. Maarten Government Falls Again: Fifth Cabinet In Five Years In The Making

UP-leader Theo Heyliger (left) and MP Silvio Matser on 10-10-14 when they were still political allies. Now the political marriage is over: “I cannot take the internal abuse anymore,” Matser said yesterday Read more

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Parliament Goes All Out Against Attorney-General Schram “His Remarks Are As Bad As The Crimes He Fights”

MP William Marlin: “The AG insults everybody in St. Maarten.” Photo Today / Leo Brown

St. Maarten – Parliament unanimously make minced meat of the remarks Attorney-General Guus Schram made on September 11 during the installation of Judge Sander van Rijen and demanded his resignation (see related story on our front page).

“I do not want to get into a debate with the attorney-general,” National Alliance faction leader William Marlin said Read more

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St. Maarten Government Falls – Three Coalition Members Defect

Picture: St. Maarten Parliament

NEWSFLASH!! St. Maarten– The Gumbs government fell shortly after 12.30 p.m. today (Wednesday, September 30, 2015) after the parliament passed a motion of no-confidence submitted by Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams with an 8-7 vote Read more

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Meeting About Zebec-Deal Continues: Opposition Questions Deal, Coalition Praises Harbor

St. Maarten – Parliament will have to wait until this afternoon for answers to the questions it posed yesterday in a public meeting about the settlement between the Harbor Group of Companies and real estate developer Zebec over the failed Harbor Village project.

As Today reported on Monday, September 14, social insurance agency SZV borrowed the harbor $10 million on a short 3-month loan to settle the dispute with Zebec.

Yesterday’s meeting did not bring anything new to light Read more

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Meeting About Zebec-Deal Continues: Opposition Questions Deal, Coalition Praises Harbor

St. Maarten – Parliament will have to wait until this afternoon for answers to the questions it posed yesterday in a public meeting about the settlement between the Harbor Group of Companies and real estate developer Zebec over the failed Harbor Village project.

As Today reported on Monday, September 14, social insurance agency SZV borrowed the harbor $10 million on a short 3-month loan to settle the dispute with Zebec.

Yesterday’s meeting did not bring anything new to light Read more

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Garbage Meeting Fizzles: Many Questions, No Answers And No Solutions

St. Maarten – At the end of a long meeting, finally there were some fireworks when opposition MP asked Vromi-Minister Claret Connor to answer one question: “Is there a contract with a company to build the waste-to-energy plant and how does this jive with your visit to a project in Miami?”

Minister Connor, who had just said that he would be able to inform the parliament on Monday when he would be able to answer the more than one hundred questions MPs had asked, did not bite Read more

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Minister Richardson Criticizes Attorney-General Schram: “Justify Your Claims Or Shut The Hell Up”

Justice Minister Richardson is tired of accusations about corruption. Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – “My position has changed: it is put up or shut up. Justify your claims or shut the hell up. This has to stop,” Justice Minister Dennis Richardson said yesterday afternoon in parliament about the statements Attorney-General Guus Schram made last Friday about the interconnection between the underworld and the legitimate part of St. Maarten’s society.

“There are numerous indications showing that the underworld and the legitimate society in St Read more

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Hundreds Show Up For Job Registration Drive

This 20-year-old job hunter is eagerly awaiting the processing of names and applications. Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – The Department of Labor Affairs and Social Services hosted a registration drive yesterday at the Clem Labega Square in the parking lot in front of the Government Administration Building. The Start Here Campaign: Your Path to Employment and Career Development“, with the theme “Your Path Starts Here” attracted 317 job seekers. Their information will be processed; others can still register today at the labor office on the Pondfill.

The campaign is geared towards boosting economic viability of a large segment of the population while also changing the perception and attitudes regarding the meditative role of the department, in the world of employment Read more

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Only National Alliance Votes Against Ordinance: Parliament Establishes Integrity Chamber

St. Maarten – After everything was said and done yesterday, only the opposition faction of the National Alliance voted against the establishment of the Integrity Chamber. The United People’s party faction, having voiced serious opposition against the Dutch pressure on St. Maarten, withdrew all of the amendments it proposed to the law in June, and went along with a strategic proposal from opposition MP Sarah Wescot-Williams to accept the proposal the government put on the table Read more

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Schoelcher Commemoration In Grand Case: Chance-Duzant Wants “Support For The Little Things We Ask”

GRAND CASE, St. Martin – Victor Schoelcher, the 19th-century abolitionist writer who had a large influence on the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, leaves his mark every year in Grand Case when a celebration is held to honor his legacy. Also this year there was the traditional church service, the cultural parade and the speeches on the field next to the village’s cultural center. However, by inviting the chair of Grand Case’s community council Patricia Chance-Duzant to speak, the Collectivité called a lot of criticism upon itself, because the speaker did not mince her words.

“We have a lot of work to do in Grand Case,” Chance-Duzant said Read more

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