PHILIPSBURG--Voters in St. Maarten will take up the red pencil again today, Monday, to elect a new Parliament in a second snap election in exactly seventeen months.
They will pick 15 Members of Parliament (MPs) from among the 93 candidates scattered across the slates of six political parties.
All 20 polling stations are open from 8:00am to 8:00pm.
The “dry law” banning the sale of alcohol on Election Day is not in effect.
This election campaign has been the country’s most subdued due to its residents, voters and non-voters alike, still reeling from the onslaught of Hurricane Irma, a category five-plus monster that slammed into the island on September 6, 2017. That storm caused widespread damage to homes and the economy.
A shift in Parliament occurred in late October 2017 after three parliamentarians pulled their support from the then National-Alliance (NA)-led government with primary reasons voiced as the refusal of then-Prime Minister William Marlin to accept Dutch conditions for recovery aid and the overall handling of the Irma crisis.
Marlin responded to the loss of majority support in Parliament with a decree, signed by Governor Eugene Holiday, to dissolve Parliament and hold a new election. There was a general outcry from many sectors of the community against an election at this time. However, the election is moving ahead.
The current majority, formed by United People’s (UP) party, Democratic Party (DP) and independent parliamentarian Chanel Brownbill, supports the Cabinet of Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin. She is the country’s sixth prime minister in almost eight years.
Who will sit in the country’s still-fledgling legislature will be decided by the 22,559 voters, whose birthplaces span some 116 countries around the globe. Their votes will determine the future of the country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom which has some 60,000 residents. The majority of voters, 11,678, are women.
All residents do not have the right to vote, only those who hold Dutch nationality and are duly registered in St. Maarten.
The number of eligible voters may change this morning if petitions are filed with the Court of First Instance by anyone with Dutch nationality who registered in the Civil Registry after the Voters Register was closed on December 6, 2017. Petitions could also come from people who were incarcerated after the registry closed and are now unable to vote at their assigned polling stations.
The outcome of the election and the names of the presumptive 15 re-elected or new parliamentarians should be available from the Central Voting Bureau after midnight. The announcement of seat allotment hinges on the swiftness of polling-station personnel in counting ballots.
For any of the six parties in the race to earn the right to govern the country (hopefully) for the next four years without coalition partner(s), it must capture eight or more seats in Parliament.
St. Maarten has been governed by shaky coalitions since it became a country within the Dutch Kingdom on October 10, 2010.
With the current voter total, the seat quota is 1,503 votes at a 100 per cent voter turnout.
The country will see one new MP at the very least. Second-term MP Silvo Matser of United St. Maarten Party (US Party) is not seeking re-election. The other 14 MPs are from UP (five), NA (five), DP (two), US Party (one) and one independent.
The official ballot has United Democrats (a merger of UP and DP) headed by MP Theo Heyliger as list #1, St. Maarten Development Movement of Benjamin Ortega as list #2; NA of former Education Minister Silveria Jacobs list #3, People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) of former Parliament Chairwoman Gracita Arrindell list #4, US Party of MP Frans Richardson list #5, and St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) of retired pastor Wycliffe Smith list #6.
Voters must present a voting card and a valid form of identification (driver’s licence, identification card or Dutch passport) to polling stations officials to be able to cast their ballots.
The Civil Registry Department on Pond Island opens today from 8:30am to 6:00pm solely for the collection of documents voters need to cast their ballots.
The voting card indicates the polling station to which the voter is assigned and he
or she must cast his/her ballot there. There are three new polling stations replacing ones that suffered damage in Irma.
Voters Guide
At the polling station, each voter will receive a ballot showing the lists for candidates of the six parties. Each slate is in the party’s assigned colour: United Democrats – black, SDM – grey, NA – white, PPA – orange, US Party – blue, and SMCP – brown.
In the voting booth, the voter should find the list of his/her preferred party, identify the candidate of choice and use only the red pencil provided to fill in the white circle next to the candidate’s name. The inside of only one circle should be coloured. No other mark is allowed on the ballot.
A ballot will be rendered invalid if a voter has not coloured any white circle – a blank ballot, coloured more than one white circle, fill in the circle with any colour other than with the red pencil, if any addition or mark (text or drawing) is made on the ballot or if the ballot contains an indication of the voter’s names or initials.
If the voter makes a mistake, he or she should return the ballot to the chairperson of the polling station and a new one can be requested. A new ballot will be provided to a voter only once.
The ballot should be folded so no candidate’s name is visible and should be deposited in the ballot box.
Polling stations
Ballot boxes are located in 20 voting districts: John Larmonie Centre – 976 assigned voters, Sundial School – 1,323, St. Maarten Senior Citizens Recreational Centre – 1,354, Sister Marie Laurence School – 1,530, Dutch Quarter Community Centre – 1,521, Milton Peters College – 1,433, Rupert Maynard Community Centre – 1,327, St. Maarten Academy – 1,523, Bute Hotel – 1,372, National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) – 1,351, Charles Leopold Bell School – 1,284, Leonald Conner School – 859, Simpson Bay Sports Community Centre – 1,183, Belvedere Community Centre – 1,435, Melford Hazel Sports and Recreational Centre – 1,423, Methodist Agogic Centre – 1,185, Dutch Quarter Community Helpdesk – 397, Seventh Day Adventist School – 946, Huis van Bewaring (prison) – 77 and St. Martin’s Home – 60.
Time off
The Council of Ministers has granted civil servants time off from work as of 3:00pm today “if service [to the public – Ed.] permits” to go cast their ballots.
As for time off to vote in general, based on Article 44 of the Voting Ordinance, voters can cast their ballots from 8:00am to 8:00pm, a 12-hour period.
Based on Article 45 of the same ordinance, an employer is obligated to ensure employees can cast their ballots, but only insofar as the casting of the ballot is not possible outside of working hours and provided that employees will not be absent from work for more than two hours.
Therefore, an employee who works a regular eight-hour shift is, in principle, not entitled to any time off, as the employee can cast his/her ballot outside of working hours.
