~ New party SAM gets one ~
PHILIPSBURG--Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) and the Democratic Party (DP) have increased their seat total from two to three, based on the preliminary results of yesterday’s snap election, which were announced at 4:00am today, Tuesday.
National Alliance (NA) managed to cling onto its top spot as the largest party at the polls, having lost almost 1,200 votes since January’s election. The party of former Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs received a total of 2,264 votes, which only edged out second place URSM by a mere 34, based on the preliminary results.
United People’s (UP) party also took a big hit at the polls. It ended up with a total of 2,038 votes and dropped from three to two seats. The party lost nearly 800 votes in the eight months since St. Maarten went to the polls in January.
Led by long-time politician Franklin Meyers, new party Soualiga Action Movement (SAM) garnered 1,249 votes in its first election, which was good enough for one seat.
Governor Ajamu Baly (foreground, centre) cast his ballot at St. Maarten Senior Citizen Recreational Center. Photo by Dimetri Whitfield.
SAM narrowly beat out Nation Opportunity Wealth (NOW) by four votes, which dropped from two seats to one, according to the preliminary results.
Party for Progress (PFP) gained a little more than 200 votes since January, up to a total of 1,942, but was not able to gain a third seat. This is the third time in a row that the party led by current Member of Parliament (MP) Melissa Gumbs has attained two seats in a parliamentary election.
DP increased by about 100 votes in yesterday’s snap election, garnering 2,069 votes.
Oualichi Movement for Change (OMC) did not gain a seat, despite leader Olivier Arrindell receiving 346 out of his party’s 521 votes.
Neither did Empire Culture Empowerment (ECE), which only garnered a paltry 136 votes, the lion’s share of which going to leader Emmanuel Wigley (128 votes).
The snap election’s biggest vote-getter was caretaker Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina, who received a massive 1,315 personal votes. The URSM leader is now only the fourth candidate to ever cross over into four figures in a St. Maarten parliamentary election, the others being DP leader Sarah Wescot-Williams, former NA leader William Marlin, and former UP leader Theo Heyliger, who did it in four successive elections in the 2010s.
Based on the preliminary results of yesterday’s snap election, URSM’s MPs-elect are Dr. Mercelina, Richinel Brug (227 votes) and Sjamira Roseburg (208 votes).
DP’s three MPs-elect are Grisha Heyliger-Marten (477 votes), Wescot-Williams (390 votes) and Viren Kotai (339 votes).
NA’s three MPs-elect are Egbert Doran (361 votes), Darryl York (312 votes) and Ardwell Irion (305 votes).
UP party’s two MPs-elect are Omar Ottley (666 votes) and Francisco Lacroes (236 votes).
PFP’s two MPs-elect are Ludmila de Weever (690 votes) and party leader Gumbs (346 votes).
SAM’s lone MP-elect is party leader Meyers (416 votes), while NOW’s one MP-elect is caretaker Justice Minister Lyndon Lewis (447 votes).
Two party leaders did not regain their parliamentary seats: NA’s Jacobs (283 votes) and NOW’s Christophe Emmanuel (252 votes), who was the second highest vote-getter on his party’s slate.
A total of 13,885 people cast a ballot in yesterday’s snap election out of 22,750 eligible voters. There were 13,694 valid votes, which represents a voter turnout of roughly 60.8%.
January’s election had a voter turnout of a little more than 65%, and a total of 14,443 valid votes.
