SXMElections.com

“From News Paper Boy To Member Of Parliament”: Who Is Robert Budike And What Are His Plans?

Born in Zwolle, the Netherlands, on January 30, 1971 of Surinamese descent, I was the third of 4 boys. I grew up in Surinam (Zorg & Hoop, Clevia, Geyersvlijt). I migrated to the Netherlands to complete my studies in 1992 and from the year 2000 I have been living and working in
St. Maarten.

My Motivation to postulate

Did it not occur to you that every time the National Alliance is in power, whether it is for a short or for a longer period, they accomplish! The National Alliance is set and focused to achieve their goals: they are the goal getters Read more

Von Panel Discussion With Party Leaders

PHILIPSBURG – JCI LIVE Soualiga known as a global leadership organization is once again holding its Voice of the Nation (VoN) Panel Discussion.

This time the topic will be on Environmental Sustainability. All 9 registered political parties’ leaders have been invited to participate in this Assembly to be held on Saturday, September 3, from 7:00pm at the University of St. Martin (USM).

The parties are: NA, DP, USP, UPP, SDM, SMCP, PPA, HOPE AND OSPP Read more

Jci Live Soualiga Holds Panel Discussion

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - JCI LIVE Soualiga known as a global leadership organization is once again holding its Voice of the Nation (VoN) Panel Discussion.

This time the topic will be on Environmental Sustainability. All nine (9) registered Political Parties’ leaders have been invited to participate in this Assembly to be held on Saturday, September 3rd from 7pm at the University of St. Martin The parties are as follows NA, DP,US, UP,SMD,SMCP,PPA,HOPE AND OSSP.

This is the third time JCI LIVE Soualiga will be holding this event.

The first discussion panel was on “Poverty and its Social Effects” in January and the second on “Education and its Economical Effect” in May.

The objectives of these discussions is to bring matters and issues that are plaguing our community to the forefront.

To see how our electorates feel about these matters Read more

Jci Live Soualiga Global Organization.

PHILIPSBURG:--- JCI LIVE Soualiga known as a global leadership organization is once again holding its Voice of the Nation (VoN) Panel Discussion. This time the topic will be on Environmental Sustainability. All nine (9) registered Political Parties’ leaders have been invited to participate in this Assembly to be held on Saturday, September 3rd from 7pm at the University of St. Martin The parties are as follows NA, DP,US, UP,SMD,SMCP,PPA,HOPE AND OSSP Read more

Up Show Unity At Team Building Event

PHILIPSBURG – As part of the United People’s (UP) Party’s groundwork to deliver a stable government to the people of St. Maarten, after more than five years of instability, 23 UP candidates contesting the September 26 Parliamentary elections held a team building session in Simpson Bay, Sunday, August 14.

The party issued a press release following the event, stating that the team building event was a huge success. It was a “common purpose” exercise geared towards improved productivity, motivation and establishing a closer bond, especially with the new members of the UP family.

Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo said after Sunday’s event “today was one of the best political team activity I ever had.” She encouraged her colleague candidates on the UP slate to continue this momentum Read more

Number 15th candidate on USP taken off the list.

PHILIPSBURG: --- The members of the voting bureau, chaired by Attorney at law Jason Rogers announced on Friday that a total of nine political parties will contest the September 26th parliamentary elections. All nine political parties that submitted their lists had to make corrections with the three-day time frame stipulated by law.
Rogers said that all the political parties had errors on their list, and they were given the time to make those corrections.
The nine political parties that will be on the ballots are UPP, HOPE, SMCP, OSPP, PPA, SDM, DP, USP and the NA.
In outlining the changes the chairman of the voting bureau said that the errors range from minors errors such addresses and date of births not correctly filled in, some parties that to place an amount of NAF 2000, in the name of voter but they did in the name of the party Read more

Hope Gets A Second Chance For Signatures

POND ISLAND--Helping Our People Excel (HOPE) may yet get on the ballot for the September 26 Parliamentary Elections.

  The party, headed by former radio personality Mercedes van der Waals-Wyatt, has been given three days, starting Tuesday, to get 80 more signatures of endorsement for its slate of three-candidates.

  Van der Waals-Wyatt told The Daily Herald she was informed on Monday of the additional time by the Main Voting Bureau Read more

Hope Hoping For Another Chance To Convince Voters, Thankful For The Support Given Tuesday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The five political parties, who needed to have their list endorsed by 146 eligible voters, were out at 9am Tuesday at the census office seeking to attract voters.

The parties seeking list endorsement were the PPA, SDM, OSPP, HOPE and the SMCP Read more

Smcp – Sdm – Ppa And Ospp Obtain More Than 146 Endorsement Signatures

~ HOPE Party did not reach the 146 signature on Tuesday ~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – On Monday August 8th, the representatives to the Central Voting Bureau of nine (9) political parties have submitted the list of candidates of their respective political parties.

As per article 23, paragraph 1 Electoral Ordinance, the lists would need to be endorsed on Tuesday, August 9th 2016, between 09.00hrs and 16.00hrs with an amount of signatures equal to 1% of the valid votes casted during the last Parliamentary Election Read more

Smcp Gets Needed Signatures To Be On Ballot.

PPA has 75

SDM 77

OSPP 76

HOPE 38

Read more

POND ISLAND - On August 8th 2016, the representatives to the Central Voting Bureau of nine (9) political parties have submitted the list of candidates of their respective political parties. As per article 23, paragraph 1 Electoral Ordinance, the lists would need to be endorsed on August 9th 2016, between 09.00hrs and 16.00hrs with an amount of signatures equal to 1% of the valid votes casted during the last Parliamentary Election.

The requisite amount of signature is 146. Those parties that have obtained 1 or more seats during the previous Parliamentary Election are exempted from being endorsed, as per paragraph 4 of the aforementioned article.

Below, please find the result of today’s endorsement:

Political PartyEndorsement  UPExemptedHOPE66SMCP221OSPP150PPA165SDM191DPExemptedUS PartyExemptedNAExempted

On Friday, August 12th 2016, the Central Voting Bureau will meet to examine the lists that were submitted and shall also take note of the endorsement list of each political party that needed to be endorsed (Article 28, paragraph 1 Electoral Ordinance) Read more

PHILIPSBURG: --- Of the five political parties that had to secure 146 signatures at the Census Office on Tuesday to qualify their list to contest the September 2016 Parliamentary elections. The St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) surpassed the amount by 1:00pm on Tuesday. The leader of the SMCP Wycliffe Smith told SMN News that at 1:30pm his party got 165 signatures and people were still in the line and some more on their way to endorse his party Read more

Nine Political Parties Postulate For September Elections

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – On Monday, August 8th postulation day, nine (9) political parties postulated to contest the September 26th parliamentary election.

The parties are the

United People’s Party (UP) 23, Helping our People Excel (HOPE) 3, St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) 9, One St Read more

Hope leader became emotional as she made a statement.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Of the nine political parties that submitted their list to the voting bureau on Monday, only three of them handed in a list with a full slate of 23 candidates. They are the United Peoples Party (UPP), United St. Maarten’s People Party (USP), and the National Alliance (NA).
St Read more

Ppa 14 Committed To 'Strong Stable, Secure St. Maarten'

PHILIPSBURG--People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) will contest the September 26 Parliamentary Elections with a slate of 14 candidates, who are committed to getting elected and working to make St. Maarten “strong, stable and secure.

Read more

Ppa Launch List Of 14 Candidates Sunday

Edward Gumbs

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The Peoples Progressive Alliance Sunday presented their slate of 14 candidates to the general public of St. Maarten at the John Larmonie Center in Philipsburg.

Leader and number one candidate drs.

Gracita Arrindell told those present for the presentation on Sunday that this is the year for the people of St Read more

The endorsement of lists in 2014, when each window was designated for a particular party. This will not occur for this election. On Tuesday, a voter can go to any window to endorse any list. (File photo)

~ Civil Registry closed for regular service Tues. ~

PHILIPSBURG--Voters heading to the Civil Registry Department on Tuesday to endorse the lists of the five new political parties will not have to select a specific window to do so any longer. They will be able to go to any window to sign for the party of their choice, giving their voting or support preference anonymity Read more

Dp Disgruntled With New Island Council Deadlock

ST. EUSTATIUS--Tuesday’s meeting of the Island Council of St. Eustatius met the same fate as the two other meetings called by the opposition Democratic Party (DP) to discuss the state of the island’s finances. For the second time in a row parties failed to agree on the agenda, after which the meeting was declared closed.

Tuesday morning’s meeting was called on the request of the DP in connection with the letter of July 19, sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations concerning the Island Government’s finances.

Acting Island Governor Julian Woodley chaired the meeting Read more

Ppa, Cpa Join Forces For Sept. 26 Elections

PHILIPSBURG--The orange party People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) and the gold party Concordia Political Alliance (CPA) have joined forces for the September 26 Parliamentary Elections.

Read more

Donald Trump – The Lie Of ‘Truthful Hyperbole’

By Sir Ronald Sanders – CNS Contributor

WASHINGTON, DC – For anyone following the US Presidential campaigns, it has been a volatile voyage with great uncertainty about whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will eventually emerge triumphant.

We still aren’t into the season of direct debates between the two and the unleashing of their denigration of each other, although throughout the primaries we had a good sense of just how nasty it will become, mostly from Trump who has verbally assaulted just about everybody except himself and his family.

But this week the tide began to surge away from Donald Trump.   The Republican Party Convention was a spectacle of division, pettiness, racism and lynch-mobbing when it wasn’t Trump trotting out his tiresome one-liners.  Meanwhile, the Democratic Party Convention was sizzling with ideas; vibrant with new directions (fashioned by Bernie Sanders and now integral to the Party’s platform); and energised by powerful argument, analysis and values spoken with conviction and magnetism by Sanders, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

No one listening to Trump declaring himself ‘the greatest’; claiming that he knows just about everything better than everyone else; and that he will fix everything that he alleges is wrong with America, can help to wonder, as Bernie Sanders did, whether he is running ‘to be President of the United States or to be a dictator’.  There is no doubt, given the personalities he admires, such as Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-un, that the dictator style appeals to him.  It also seems to come very easy to him to attach demeaning terms to his opponents.  Thus, ‘little Marco’ (Rubio); ‘lying Ted’ (Cruz) and ‘corrupt Hillary’ (Clinton).

For some time, there seemed to be a reluctance to call him out by his political opponents, especially those he beat for the Republican Party nomination.  The one exception to that general pattern has been President Barack Obama, who, even before he took to the hustings in support of Hillary Clinton, had been unhesitant – even determined – to expose Trump as an ill-informed braggart who posed a real danger to the ethos of the American nation.

Here’s the passage from Obama’s speech at the Democratic Party Convention that pigeon-holes Trump and lays him intellectually and morally bare: “America is already great Read more

Ppa Plans Real Estate Tax And Flat Income Tax Levy

PHILIPSBURG--A 2.5 per cent “real estate” tax and the levying of a flat ten per cent income tax are proposed by People’s Progressive Party (PPA), headed by former Member of Parliament (MP) Gracita Arrindell, in its manifesto themed “Strong, Safe and Secure St Read more

Ppa Releases Manifesto Monday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Peoples Progressive Alliance {PPA} Monday gave an outline of their parties manifesto for governing.

This was presented by the leader of the PPA Drs. Gracita Arrindell who stated that the party believes that the purchasing power must be returned to the people including the pensioners Read more

Dp Statia: Statia Government In Financial And Organizational Mess

ORANJESTAD, St Eustatius — On July 19, Statia’s Executive Council has been put on a yet more stringent form of financial supervision.

The implemented prior financial supervision, imposed on the PLP/UPC government last year, has been extended with a total stop on most new financial obligations, a so-called “verplichtingenstop.”

While under the previous supervision, government was not allowed to make any payments prior to approval of the minister, in the new situation government is prohibited to make any payments, which they were not already previously legally obligated to prior to July 15.

DP Statia saw this coming for some time already Read more

Lenny Priest: “Back And Forth Bickering Between Na And Up Over Gebe But No Solution In Sight”

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - It is the people of St. Maarten who are continuing to suffer while the heated debate over who is most responsible for the current Gebe woes continues between the National Alliance and the United People Party, notes leader of the One St. Maarten People Party Lenny Priest who opined that workable solutions are what the country needs and not “high school antics from elected officials.”

Priest was reacting to recent media statements on the situation at Gebe from the board of the NA who alleged ‘it seems every time that government or government owned companies needs to make a significant purchase some family or friend is involved in some way or the other’ and to statements by the UP alleging that it was the NA who stopped the purchase of the engine needed by Gebe.

“This constant back and forth between the largest political parties over what has happened at Gebe under their tenure with accusations of nepotism and the like levied against each other is in no way a solution to the problem Read more