Dutch representative in St. Maarten Chris Johnson (second left) dumping the ballots on the table so that counting could begin. Photo by Dimetri Whitfield.
~ D66 big winner again ~
PHILIPSBURG--Of the 154 valid votes cast in Philipsburg for the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament election, former St. Maarten Minister Plenipotentiary Jorien Wuite received the lion’s share, snatching an impressive 66 of her party’s 83 total votes.
Some 178 St. Maarten residents were eligible to vote in this year’s Dutch parliamentary election. Eligible voters were Dutch nationals who have been residing in the Netherlands for at least 10 years. Persons fitting the criteria could cast a ballot at the “letter voting” bureau at the office of the Dutch Representative in St. Maarten.
With 155 total votes cast, the turnout was 87.1 per cent, down three per cent from 2017. There was one invalid vote amongst the ballots.
Wuite’s inclusion at number 20 on centrist party D66’s slate ensured a victory. In total, D66 earned almost 54 per cent of the vote, making it the second election in a row that the party won the polls in St. Maarten.
Aside from Wuite’s 66 personal votes, party leader Sigrid Kaag received 11 votes and number two candidate Rob Jetten received three. One vote each went to three other D66 candidates, including Surinamese-born Joan Nunnely.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s governing VVD party received 20 votes, coming in a distant second and losing 11 votes from its 2017 showing. Rutte received 13 personal votes and seven other candidates one each, including number 47 on the list Simone Richardson, whose father is Antillean.
The third largest party was Wopke Hoekstra’s Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) with 11 votes. CDA’s highest vote-getters were Pieter Omtzigt (four votes) and Raymond Knops (three votes).
Sylvana Simons’ far-left party BIJ1 received 10 votes, more than doubling its output from 2017 when the party was known as Artikel1. Simons captured four of the 10 ballots, followed by Saban Lysanne Charles with three votes and Quinsy Gario of St. Maarten/Curaçao descent, who garnered two.
Left-wing environmentalists GroenLinks took a hit at the polls, earning only eight votes compared to its 21 in 2017. Party leader Jesse Klaver captured four of the ballots cast for his slate.
Lodewijk Asscher’s labour party PvdA got six votes, while the lone vote of Socialist Party (SP) went to number 11 candidate Sunita Biharie.
Support for far-right PVV stood the same as it did four years ago, as Geert Wilders’ slate earned only six votes, with Wilders’ himself receiving five. Fellow far-right party Forum for Democracy FvD received four votes.
Earning two votes each were Party for Animals PvD and newcomer Volt. Right-wing Christian party SGP got one vote.
Personnel of the Dutch Representative Office in Philipsburg began the process of counting the ballots when polls closed at 3:00pm Wednesday. It took some two hours and 30 minutes to tally the votes.
The Dutch 2021 parliamentary election took place over three days due to COVID-19. Wednesday was the final day that persons could cast their ballots.
