Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--The reported trading of votes in St. Maarten is worrisome and has an undermining effect on the country's democracy.
That is what Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated on Monday in response to written questions submitted by Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP).
Van Raak sought clarity on August 27, two days prior to the elections, after reading in the local media that the Court of First Instance had declared admissible the Prosecutor's Office's cases against five persons involved in the selling and buying of votes on behalf of the United People's (UP) party in the September 2010 election.
Van Raak had asked the minister's opinion on the court's decision and the accusation of the judge that the Prosecutor's Office was guilty of "class justice" by only prosecuting the five suspects in question, and to leave the management of UP in peace despite evidence that pointed in their direction. "It is not up to the minister of home affairs and kingdom relations to provide a comment on the court's decisions and rulings," Plasterk stated in his response.
The minister also didn't want to go into reports that UP party leader Theo Heyliger had donated US $3 million to his party for the 2010 elections and that people were standing in line in front of the UP headquarters to receive money for their vote. "I am not in the position to judge on the truthfulness of these allegations," he stated.
Plasterk gave a more elaborate answer on Van Raak's question whether he shared his concerns that Heyliger might be re-elected during the August 29 elections without a proper election fraud investigation having taken place.
"The judge has determined that a number of persons were guilty of trading votes. The Charter of the Kingdom states that every country carries the responsibility to realise fundamental human rights and freedoms, the legal security and proper governance. St. Maarten is a constitutional state and that sense the trading of votes is worrisome and undermining for the democratic character of the country," he stated.
