Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the Democratic Party ((DP)) of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams, held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
During the conference the caretaker Prime Minister who also holds the function of President of Parliament, outlined the role that her party played and is playing in the current formation process leading towards a new government for the island led by the UP party and MP Cornelius de Weever.
Formateur MP the Honorable Theo Heyliger who is now not a candidate for Minister, announced that he has submitted the names and dossiers of candidates Ministers to His Excellency the Governor of St. Maarten Eugene Holiday.
According to the (DP) leader, the process up to this point has caused the party to take a step back to evaluate the current process in which the candidate proposals of the (DP) leader have been left out.
The candidate minister proposals of MP Cornelius de Weever were the only ones accepted the (DP) leader noted.
They are former MP Leroy De Weever who has been proposed as Minister of VSA while Rita Bourne-Gumbs has been nominated as the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs.
Rita Bourne-Gumbs is currently the Principal of the Genevieve de Weever Primary School in the HOPE Estate.
The (DP)'s nominations which were ignored comprised of Emil Lee for VSA and Head of Exams Division of the Ministry of Education, Yvette Halley was nominated for the Minister of Education and Perry Geerlings for the Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague.
This turn of events is what led the (DP) leader to make her position as President of Parliament available to the UP party of MP Theo Heyliger.
The (DP) leader also noted during her press conference on Wednesday afternoon that informally it was agreed that the party would have played a greater role in the direction that the country would take, now she does not feel that way based on the list of candidate Ministers that was submitted by the Formateur, leader of the UP party the Honorable Theo Heyliger.
She also indicated that the communication with the UP leader left much to be desired pointing to a two week gap during which her efforts to communicate with the UP leader was unsuccessful.
Apart from the (DP) party, the UP/de Weever coalition also enjoys the support of Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo.
The full press conference of the Prime Minister can now be heard via PodCast.
