From Left: Department of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relation BAK Acting Head Angelique Gumbs, General Affairs Ministry Secretary-General Hensley Plantijn, Civil Registry head Kathy Snijders, PM Cabinet legal advisor Luis de Cuba, Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin, Legal Affairs acting head Jennifer Fer, Central Voting Bureau Chairman Jason Rogers and Electoral Council Chairman Bert Hoffman.
PHILIPSBURG--The newly formed workgroup on electoral reform led by Prime Minister (PM) Leona Romeo Marlin met for the first time on March 22.
As outlined in the current government’s Governing Programme, titled Building a Sustainable Sint Maarten, “any reform on election procedures can be viewed as political, but we must consider that there is a fundamental public lack of trust. We believe that both constitutional and electoral reform can contribute to the restoration of trust.
“… To this end, we will review the laws governing elections, improve electoral awareness on all levels and, where necessary, improve the democratic process of electing a parliament and appointing a government to office.”
The first action of the workgroup will be to advise the Prime Minister on the establishment of an Electoral Reform Committee that will explore the options being proposed and report to the Council of Ministers, via the Prime Minister. Before any proposal on Electoral Reform can become law Members of Parliament will have to debate the draft.
