Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij (left) speaking during the validation of the lists of candidates for the Island Council election in St. Eustatius with a staff member of the Civil Registry looking on.
ST. EUSTATIUS--Three parties will be contesting seats in the Island Council election of October 21. On Friday, their lists of candidates were inspected and signing for validation.
The lists were formally submitted to the Civil Registry (Census Office) by the Democratic Party (DP), Progressive Labour Party (PLP) and United People’s Coalition (UPC) on September 7.
The validation of the lists of candidates took place in Vincent A. Lopes Legislative Hall, where a few members of the three parties were present.
Social distancing was observed by all in attendance, and hand sanitisers were readily available and used.
Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij stated that this was an “important moment” with regard to the confirmation of the submitted lists by the three political parties.
He said this was the first step to bring democracy back to St. Eustatius, which has been under administrative supervision by the Netherlands since February 2019. “Democracy is of the utmost importance,” Van Rij said.
A total of 36 candidates will be taking part in the upcoming election. The DP list consists of #1 Adelka Spanner, #2 Koos Sneek, #3 Ernie Simmons, #4 Julian Woodley, #5 Raquel Spanner-Carty, #6 Shanna Mercera-Gibbs, #7 Sjahaira Fleming, #8 Adonis Cijntje, #9 Magda Korstanje-Spanner, #10 Candidia Woodley, #11 Hipolito Herrera Rodriguez and #12 Austin van Heyningen.
The names on the PLP candidate list are : #1 Rechelline Leerdam, #2 Charles Woodley, #3 Glenville Schmidt, #4 Reuben Merkman, #5 Derrick Simmons, Jr., #6 Richenell Tearr, #7 Arlene Spanner-Schmidt, #8 Iligia Jones, #9 Jean Carlos Abreu Gomez, #10 Carlos Lopes and #11 Clyde Van Putten.
The UPC list consists of candidates #1 Elvin Henriquez, #2 Carmen Nova Bonilla and #3 Daniela Richardson.
