SXMElections.com

Editorial - Wait and see

Governor Eugene Holiday's decision to appoint two "informateurs" – Joe Richardson and Marcel Gumbs – (see Saturday paper) is interesting. He obviously had to do something when it became clear that "formateur" William Marlin (NA) no longer could deliver a majority in Parliament after DP's MP-elect Cornelius de Weever signed an agreement with the seven UP fraction members-elect and thus torpedoed the envisioned NA/DP/UP Party coalition.

The governor, based on the document presented to him by UP leader Theo Heyliger, could have named the latter "formateur" instead, but stopped short of doing so Read more

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William says too many use their parliamentary seats for leverage

~ 'Just a matter of time before another shifting' ~

PHILIPSBURG--"The sad reality" of politics in St. Maarten is that too many persons "peddle off" their parliamentary seats "to the highest bidder" and use their seat for leverage, former formateur William Marlin said on Sunday.

Marlin said he was not specifically referring to the trading of seats for financial gain, but the use of one's seat for opportunity, though he said he has heard about offers being made.

Marlin was at the time speaking at a press conference Sunday called to address the events leading up to the National Alliance/Democratic Party/ United St Read more

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Candidates in this article:

Joe Richardson, Marcel Gumbs appointed as new informateurs

HARBOUR VIEW--Governor Eugene Holiday has appointed Marcel Gumbs and Joe Richardson as informateurs to work on the formation of the new coalition government.

He announced his decision following discussions with United People's (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger on Friday.

Considering the consultations, the results of the August 29 elections, the developments over the past four weeks and the coalition agreement signed by UP's seven Members of Parliament (MPs)-elect and Democratic Party (DP) MP-elect Van Hugh Cornelius de Weever, Holiday requested that Richardson and Gumbs take up the tasks of informateurs Read more

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Hassink: ‘We have to take measures to provide for ourselves in a disaster’

BELAIR--St. Maarten has to take measures to provide for itself in the event of a disaster, Finance Minister Martin Hassink told attendees at the Henderson Insurances Catastrophe Risk Insurance Conference at the Belair Community Center on Friday.

Hassink said "there was some feeling of security" when St. Maarten was part of the former Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a fall-back position in case of disaster. He said, however, that after 10/10/10, "this security partly disappeared and together with the fact that our mother country sees us more as a burden than as a blessing, St Read more