New political parties will have a chance to participate in the upcoming election after all because it was postponed until January 9 (see related story). They won’t have much time, however, as the deadline to register for the January 9 election is this Wednesday, October 9.
Up to now the only known newcomer is Party for Progress (PFP), which was in the process of preparing its registration with the Electoral Council when the final national decree to dissolve Parliament and force an early return to the polls was signed by the governor. Others, including existing but deregistered parties, now have just three more days to submit the necessary documents.
The only four already registered are the current four represented in the legislature (in alphabetical order) National Alliance (NA), St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP), United Democrats (UD) and United St. Maarten Party (US Party). These will also have preference when it comes to their respective colours white, brown, black and blue.
In general, the system doesn’t really favour new parties trying to break into the political establishment and of several that tried in the last few elections only SMPC managed to capture a parliamentary seat. For starters, they must prove the backing of at least one per cent of the valid vote during the most recent election for their candidate lists, to be submitted November 21.
After citizens cast their ballots, seats are allocated based on the total vote divided by the number of seats; 15 in this case. However, there are always residual seats still to be given out once those earned outright have been distributed.
The problem is that one already needs to have a first seat before qualifying for a residual one. This is a clear disadvantage to small parties and along with the process of demonstrating enough support beforehand acts as threshold to prevent too much political disintegration and splintering.
But while getting on the ballot and especially getting into Parliament are by no means easy, persons and groups wanting to do so should not let this reality discourage them. Anybody can sit on the side-lines and complain about government, but it’s by getting involved that people are most likely to make a difference.
As the expression goes: “Be the change.”
