Four new parliamentarians will soon be sworn in, once their credentials have been approved (see related story). But the latter is not as self-evident as it may seem.
The incoming legislators are to replace members of the NA/US Party/DP coalition who became Ministers. As a result, only 11 of the 15 Parliament seats are currently occupied.
Having a plenary session where the candidates can be approved requires a quorum of eight, which means the UP fraction’s cooperation will be needed. A similar situation has just occurred in Curaçao, ending up with police removing persons from Parliament.
There is one big difference, however, because in Curaçao the opposition after signing in to allow the meeting also had a majority of the seats occupied at that moment. This could in theory make it possible for them to somehow thwart the proceedings, had the chair not intervened.
In St. Maarten, the William Marlin Cabinet II will still be backed by a majority of six of the 11 occupied seats once the session begins. Therefore, the only way to boycott the process would be not to sign in for the meeting, which can lead to postponement twice before it may be held without a quorum.
Hopefully the local opposition won’t resort to such tactics that only serve to delay matters. There is way too much important work to do on behalf of society to play politics at a time when the people most need the best from both their legislative and executive branches of Government.
