~ Cabinet should resign immediately ~
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Friday that calling early elections will not solve the issue of Members of Parliament (MPs) switching their support from one party to another. This can only be resolved with electoral reform, she stated.
Wescot-Williams told reporters at a press conference that DP had always been a strong proponent of electoral reform and making this a priority. The Gumbs cabinet was “out of order” in its attempts to try to dismiss Parliament for passing a motion of no confidence against it, she said and elections would not prevent a similar “political situation” from reoccurring.
She said St. Maarten had adopted many of its laws from the Dutch system. The section on the dissolution of Parliament was adopted from the former Netherlands Antilles. However, in the former Netherlands Antilles, it was the governor who had the authority to dissolve Parliament if there was an impasse.
Wescot-Williams said the move by the Gumbs cabinet to try to dissolve Parliament and call new elections in December was unconstitutional. She said the cabinet was “looking for needles in a haystack” in trying to justify its reasons for wanting to dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
She said that although provisions were made in the constitution for ministers to dissolve Parliament, this could be done only in cases where there was a stalemate in Parliament. Currently, there is no stalemate in Parliament, just a shift in the majority.
“It can’t be a cat-and-mouse game,” she said. “The minute Government no longer enjoys the confidence of Parliament; they should immediately make their positions available, no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ about it. They should resign immediately. The law is clear on this.”
She also touched on breast cancer awareness, given that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She said early detection was best when it came to this disease. She alluded to her own late mother, who had been a breast cancer survivor for more than five decades. Her mother passed away a few months ago at the ripe age of 93.
