PHILIPSBURG--Member of Parliament (MP) Ludmila de Weever has withdrawn her support from the United People’s (UP) party and has declared herself Independent.
“Things are no longer aligned and with that I will have to declare my independence,” de Wever said during the notification segment of the continuation of the urgent public meeting of Parliament on the Ombudsman’s final report regarding the tendering and awarding process of garbage collection contracts on Friday.
De Weever started off her notification welcoming National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin back into the legislature indicating that he had been “sorely missed” and indicating that it had been a pleasure to welcome him back. She went on to say: “My notification is just one of gratitude to say thank you to the Prime Minister for always being supportive. To say thank you to you [Chairperson of Parliament Grisha Heyliger-Marten], for your impartiality. Where we have gone has been separate. A definite thank you to the United People’s Party for letting me be part of them and being here to represent the people of St. Maarten, but things are no longer aligned and with that I will have to declare my independence, thank you very much,” stated de Weever.
Parliament said in a subsequent statement on its Facebook page that MP de Weever had notified Parliament on Friday, September 2, that she had withdrawn her support from the United People’s party, declaring herself an independent MP.