The voter registry closed Monday, but so far there has been no word on a final number of eligible voters in the January 11 election. There is also no confirmation of the population count at that time, particularly if this – as foreseen – remained below the constitutional threshold for expanding the legislature from its current 15 to 17 seats.
Only last week Party for Progress (PFP) Member of Parliament (MP) Melissa Gumbs asked Prime Minister Sliveria Jacobs by letter about the trajectory to remove the customary dark curtains in front of voting booths. This is to prevent people from secretly taking pictures of their filled-in ballots that can be used as invoice for payment.
Newcomers who may consider the latter rather far-fetched should think again, because St. Maarten has a history of court cases for vote-buying even involving police officers and prison officials, with several convictions. Another, still existing potential risk is the misuse of dummy ballots for a so-called “Bulgarian train” scheme to commit election fraud.
Regarding the curtains, opposition party PFP submitted a draft national decree containing general measures to remove them and the prime minister in August announced that these proposed changes had been approved. The bill was on its way to the Advisory Council before going to the governor to be signed into law.
With Nomination Day in just one month, an update would indeed be appreciated, so stakeholders including the Central Voting Bureau know for sure what to expect. As it concerns democratic principles, ensuring they have the necessary legal backing for all their decisions and actions is essential.
Great care must also be taken not to jeopardise the private and confidential nature of the process at the polling station. Voters must be able to exercise this basic right and civic duty in full comfort and trust.
