Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG – The Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club (SCTMC) is inviting all toastmasters and the community of St. Maarten to its Table Topics-a-Thon on Wednesday, September 7.
All political parties were invited to participate by submitting the name of a candidate who is contesting the elections for the first time. This program provides a great opportunity for toastmasters and the wider community to get to know these candidates.
The Table Topics-a-Thon will be held at the University of St. Martin (USM) from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. During this event, candidates will be given several two-minute time slots to answer each randomly selected question.
According to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, voters are more likely to cast a vote for a candidate that he/she identifies with. With elections right around the corner, this program will allow new candidates, who are not known to the community, to build a relationship. Questions posed at the event are not intended to be political in nature, but are rather designed to get to know the individual in question.
The following parties have already confirmed their participation: St. Maarten Development Movement (SDM), One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP), National Alliance (NA), United People’s party (UPP), Democratic Party (DP) and the People’s Progressive Party (PPA).
Toastmasters is an international organization that helps persons to develop their public speaking, listening and leadership skills. Table Topics is a fun part of Toastmasters club meetings and it helps to train participants to quickly organize and express their thoughts in an impromptu type setting. In return, individuals display their quick thinking and speaking skills on a myriad of topics in a supportive and encouraging environment.
Internationally, Toastmasters boasts more than 345,000 members spread over 15,900 clubs. The Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club is the only corporate club on the island designed for civil servants. Meetings are held at the Claude Wathey Legislative Hall on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 5:30pm.
Political parties who have not responded can still register their candidate by emailing Ms. Groeneveldt at psoualiga@gmail.com before Friday, September 2.
