Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs confirmed she had declined the option to have observers from other parts of the kingdom and elsewhere for the January 9 elections.
Members of the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague had expressed concern after learning this from Dutch Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Minister Raymond Knops. He said refusing objective observers “doesn’t show much strength,” while accepting them is a “very normal process.”
However, the prime minister reasoned that there is no need because St. Maarten has already showed it holds free and fair elections with outside observers present less than two years earlier. She alluded to the short preparation time for the snap election and it being during the Christmas seasons.
The reality is that while the country has seen more than one vote-buying case proven in court, these practices hardly took place at the actual polling stations where observers could have noted them. Fact is also that the prosecution and conviction of several persons involved has made others who might potentially follow suit think twice and has helped create awareness in general that selling one’s vote is not only wrong but risky.
It was more logical to have observers at the last election in early 2018 because the country was still reeling from the onslaught of the September 2017 hurricanes. There were uncertainties and practical issues such as not being able to deliver voting cards because citizens were temporarily displaced.
So, the prime minister has a point, but – on the other hand – what could it hurt? Her answer is that St. Maarten would have to bear the cost for 9 to 10 people “from the Netherlands and all over the world” while on the island.
That may sound like a rather frivolous argument but must be seen in context of the current budget constraints and deficits that require continued liquidity loans from the same Dutch government. Jacobs is in any case on record saying her interim cabinet has “absolutely no problem” with observers if the Netherlands pays for them.
Perhaps this can be seriously considered by the political establishment in The Hague under “unforeseen expenses,” as a gesture of goodwill.
