SXMElections.com

~Law firm weighs in~

PHILIPSBURG--Sulvaran and Peterson law firm, which represents the United People's (UP) party led by Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger, has weighed in on the vote-buying case involving UP.

The firm said UP was willing to call a neutral committee when it takes office to "tackle this matter with all the political parties." The aim will be to "separate fact and fiction and, if necessary, to make recommendations."

The firm said, "Finding a correct balance with this topic will in itself be a challenge," but noted that it was something "local politics itself will have to tackle first. For interference in internal affairs there is, for the time being, no room politically considered."

The firm said the final conclusion of the police investigation into the vote-buying incident had not established that UP had bribed persons, by means of donations or promises, to exercise their right to vote. The firm said the objective of the investigation had been "concealed," adding that it had been declared that the investigation was aimed at the Watheys.

"Theo Heyliger is a Wathey. This cannot, however, as it appeared at the court hearing, be found in any of the case files. There are objections with regard to the point in time at which the case has been reported after four years. Just before the elections," the firm said.

"Roy Heyliger has never declared that in the framework of his acts in this criminal case he was accountable to Theo Heyliger. Furthermore, it gives a distorted picture when in the ruling it is included that from CIE [Criminal Intelligence Unit – Ed.] information, which ... cannot be tested for correctness, it ensues that Theo Heyliger is believed to have deposited US $3,000,000 in the election fund."

The law firm said no proof had been presented for this. "In this secretive report it has also been incorporated that in the party assets of others, not being the UP, enormous amounts have been deposited by merchants who are not party members."

The firm said the system of voting on the islands "offers more guarantees than the Dutch system. In the Netherlands, many votes are cast outside the seclusion of the polling booth by means of a proxy or postal vote. There all forms of supervision are lacking and there is a real threat for electoral freedom.

"In our country, every voter has to go in all cases to the polling booth to fill out the ballot all by him- or herself. Electoral freedom is guaranteed better here, whereas in Holland the voter can even give his ballot to another person," the firm said.

According to Sulvaran and Peterson, the Prosecutor had endorsed that it is "a common practice in St. Maarten for all political parties to distribute advantages among voters." The attorneys said this "is believed to be a cultural happening."

"According to the Integrity Commission, the political culture in the islands here is the root of the problem. It is a grey area. From the declarations at the court sessions of, among others, the Prosecutor, it seems to be a phenomenon of all times that occurs around all political parties. Dutch politicians do not possess miracle drugs that have the primacy to adjust social customs in the islands," the law firm said.