Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Dear Editor
I read the PM's “weighing in on the political turmoil†and would like to comment.
In 2013, the United People’s (UP) party wanted to come into government and (rightfully so) proclaimed eight parliamentary seats to be more than seven. The battle between proponents of Article 33-2 and Article 59 ensued. Article 59 was invoked by the National Alliance (NA) led Wescot II cabinet, but lost. The UP-led Wescot III cabinet was sworn in and William's NA was out.
Fast forward to 2015: the NA wants to come into government and (again rightfully so) proclaims eight parliamentary seats are more than seven. Again, the battle between proponents of Article 33-2 and Article 59 is raging. This time Article 59 is being invoked by the UP-led Gumbs cabinet except, now the UP-led Gumbs Cabinet (shoe-on-other-foot) refuses to practice what the then UP-led coalition-of-eight preached in 2013! So, what is the difference between 2013 and 2015? UP was out then and wanted to come in, while now, UP is in and refuses to come out.
Mind you, if there were snap elections called now, most if not (hopefully) all the jumpers would see an expedited end to their political career, which according to me would be a good thing.
Another issue to consider is the fact that in case no snap election is called, it is not nice to have a government supported by a Parliamentary majority of one single seat (which could be any of the eight supporting Parliamentarians), of which one that has a criminal conviction hanging over his head. Which begs the question – what happens with this new eight-seat coalition is in 2016, the Appellate Court upholds the decision of the Court of First Instance in the Sylvio Matser case and the good gentleman has to vacate his Parliamentary seat? That seat will then be filled by the next UP candidate, UP and government will fall again as then also – eight remains more than seven.
To conclude – eight is always more than seven, and therefore this non-legal scholar maintains that as long as there is a majority in Parliament, Article 33-2 must be applied before Article 59 can be considered.
The Gumbs-UP cabinet must follow the lead of the Wescot II-UP cabinet and let go! William is up next!
Michael J. Ferrier
