Hôtel de la Collectivité, Marigot.
MARIGOT—A total of 18,859 eligible voters will be called to the polls on Sunday, March 20, to cast their vote for the 2022- 2027 Territorial Council Election first round at the nineteen polling stations distributed around the territory. Polling stations close at 6:00pm.
The six lists are Saint-Martin avec vous (Jacques Hamlet), L’Avenir Saint-Martin (Yawo Nyuiadzi), RSM (Louis Mussington), Team Gibbs (Daniel Gibbs), Generation Hope 2022 (Jules Charville), and Alternative (Valérie Damaseau).
During the first round of the territorial elections the Collectivité is setting up an information area for the media and the public, at Hôtel de la Collectivité. A screen will be set up outside the town hall to broadcast estimates coming in from polling station throughout the day, and then the results from 6:30 pm. The results will be announced publicly, after confirmation with the Préfecture.
In order to allow candidates to express themselves to the media during the first round, the Collectivité will provide them with a radio, TV and print media interview area open at mid-day. A space with a microphone and lectern will also be set up for the final statements to the media.
A speaker will be placed outside in front of the town hall, to allow the population to come and listen to the statements. Access to the media area on the first floor is restricted to accredited media, candidates and other accredited persons.
Some 20,276 voters were on the electoral register for the 2017 election, the drop in numbers in 2022 can be explained partly by people leaving the island after Hurricane Irma. The population went from 35, 334 in 2017 to 34, 099 in 2018, according to National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
There are six lists contesting the 2022 Territorial Council election compared to eight in 2017.
An electoral reform in January 2019 was implemented to reduce the number of poorly registered votes through a tightening up of the registration procedures. Diligent cross checking can now delete vague or unreadable votes.
The Territorial Council of St. Martin is composed of 23 seats and three more for substitute candidates. The lists must present 26 candidates. The number of seats to be filled is shared according to the number of votes received.
In the first round, the list that obtains an absolute majority of the votes cast and number of votes equal to a quarter of the registered voters wins the majority bonus, i.e. eight seats. The remaining seats are then distributed proportionally according to the rule of the highest average between all the lists, including the one that came first.
If no list has obtained an absolute majority, a second round is organised among all the lists. The lists that have obtained at least five percent may merge with the lists that are able to maintain their position. After the votes have been counted, the seats are distributed according to the same rules as in the first round and the majority bonus is awarded to the list that comes first, whether or not it has obtained an absolute majority and the votes of 25 per cent of the registered voters.
The first round in 2017 saw only 42 percent (8,312 voters) come out to vote (abstention rate of 57.6 per cent) and only an extra 199 voters (8,511) for the second round (abstention rate of 54.6 per cent). The election was ultimately won in the second round by Team Gibbs that captured 64.31 per cent of votes compared to 23. 73 per cent for the list of MJP (Louis Mussington), an alliance with Jules Charville, and 11.96 per cent for Alain Richardson.
