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PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party ((DP)) has moved to expel Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever from its ranks. The party has given De Weever until 5:00pm today, Friday, to appeal his expulsion if he so wishes.
De Weever, who is off-island, has not responded to requests for a comment on what he intends to do in the face of his pending expulsion.
De Weever was informed of his pending expulsion from St. Maarten's oldest and once largest political party in a letter sent to him on November 25. The letter was signed by (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams and (DP) Board President Hasani Ellis.
De Weever's signing-on with the United People's (UP) party to form a new coalition government on October 3 when he was the mark of (DP)'s negotiating team with the then-National Alliance (NA)-led coalition was deemed by the two (DP) representatives as "betraying" the people with whom he was working on the NA/(DP)/United St. Maarten Party Governing Programme.
"That alone would constitute reason for immediate disbarment from the (DP) with the consequences as spelled out in our articles of incorporation," the letter stated in reference to De Weever signing on with the UP party.
De Weever went further weeks later when he submitted his preferred minister candidates for the new Cabinet. Those candidates were not the ones the (DP) leader and Board wanted.
Immediate expulsion was not pursued by the (DP) hierarchy, because after several discussions with De Weever and his uncle, former (DP) Parliamentarian Leroy de Weever, "it was decided in the interest of the party to band together and throw our party's support behind what by that time had become the UP/CDW/LMR coalition," according to the letter.
A declaration of support of the new coalition was signed by Wescot-Williams with formateur UP party leader Theo Heyliger on October 9. This led to further discussions between De Weever and Wescot-Williams about possible candidates for the Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour and the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. Heyliger and UP deputy leader MP Franklin Meyers were present for one of those discussions.
Wescot-Williams then submitted the names of Yvette Halley and Emil Lee for the ministerial posts to Heyliger on October 28. De Weever was copied on that correspondence.
Some two weeks later, De Weever dispatched a letter to Heyliger with his minister candidates for the two posts: his uncle Leroy de Weever and Rita Bourne-Gumbs. In that letter, De Weever is said to have referred to an agreement he had signed with the formateur on September 24. The content of that agreement is "unknown" to the (DP) leader and board.
De Weever is said to have dismissed Bourne-Gumbs' candidacy on more than one occasion, and once in the presence of Heyliger, "as a fleeting thought." He is said to have dismissed her name also based on a discussion he had with NA MP Silveria Jacobs, according to the (DP) letter.
Adding to the infractions against the political party, De Weever, as (DP) fraction leader in Parliament, submitted a request along with two other MPs for a public meeting of Parliament to deal with discrepancies during the August 29 Parliamentary Elections. This request was made known to Wescot-Williams and the party board only after it was received by Wescot-Williams in her capacity as then-Chairperson of Parliament.
De Weever's actions "go against every grain of decency, politically or otherwise," Wescot-Williams and Ellis stated in the letter. "You have acted against all that the Democratic Party stands for, its articles of incorporation and your own signed declarations of consent and of abidance."
