Island Governor Jonathan Johnson gives an explanation to Saba Comprehensive School students at the Fire Department polling station in The Bottom on Monday.
SABA--The polling station at the Fire Department in The Bottom opened on Monday morning. Eligible Sabans, 907 persons in total, could cast their vote in the Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber election at this location on Monday, March 15, and today, Tuesday, March 16, as well as Wednesday, March 17.
The second polling station will open at Eugenius Johnson Center in Windwardside on Wednesday. Voting is possible from 7:30am to 9:00pm.
Island Governor Jonathan Johnson visited the polling station in The Bottom on Monday morning, where he spoke with a small group of Saba Comprehensive School (SCS) form four and five students who are observing the Second Chamber election on all three voting days as part of their social studies class.
Johnson explained to the students how the voting process works, what the difference is between the Second Chamber election and the local Island Council election, and why the Second Chamber election is important even though the Netherlands is far away.
“It is good for the students to see for themselves how the elections are carried out,” said Johnson.
SCS student Vernisha Robinson said it was “a great opportunity” and an “eye opener” for them to see how the election works.
“The workings of government and elections are part of our social studies. It is also interesting to learn how the Second Chamber election differs from the local election. Our teacher Michele Martie and our coach Gerald Simmons-de Jong thought it would be good for us to get this exposure.”
As an extension to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) project of late 2020, and Children’s Rights Week, Simmons-de Jong asked the students to participate in observing the Second Chamber election.
As part of the UNICEF project, a number of students took part in the online inter-island debate and lobby session with Member of the Second Chamber Stieneke van der Graaf (Christian Union) and State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops of the Christian-Democrat CDA party in December 2020. The aim of this UNICEF project is to strengthen the voice of the youth in the Caribbean Netherlands.
