August 20, 2024 | Oscar van Dam
In the elections on Sint Maarten on Monday 19 August, seven different parties were elected to the new parliament, which has 15 members. This results in a very diverse outcome. Three parties won three seats.
The provisional results show that the National Alliance (NA) of former Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs received the most votes (2,264 votes), followed by the URSM of current Prime Minister Luc Mercelina with 2,230 votes and the Democratic Party (DP) of veteran Sarah Wescot-Williams with 2,069 votes.
Newcomer SAM
The UP has gained 2 seats and the PFP 2. The NOW party of Christopher Emmanuel has only 1 seat left. The only new party that managed to gain a seat is SAM of former parliamentarian Franklin Meyers.
Olivier Arrindell’s Oualichi Movement for Change (OMC) party failed to win enough votes for a seat. Arrindell made headlines last month when his car was shot at, killing his wife.
Favorable for coalition
Apart from the narrow victory for the National Alliance, the party that also finished as the largest party in the previous two elections, the outcome is also very favourable for the current coalition.
It consists of URSM, DP, PFP and NOW, each with two seats. After the elections of 11 August, the coalition of the four parties was forged. But seventeen days after the installation on 3 May of this year, the party lost its majority, which is why the inhabitants of the island were allowed to vote for the second time this year.
The government led by Curaçao-born surgeon, Prime Minister Luc Mercelina, ruled in a caretaker capacity from May onwards. He was present a lot, showed himself to be a prime minister for everyone and addressed the population in difficult moments, such as the arrival of tropical storm Ernesto and the attack on Arrindell.
The residents have rewarded him for this. The party that claims to be working on a ‘more resilient, stronger Sint Maarten’, by tackling all problems in a ‘holistic way’, can continue to govern.
Cooperation agreement
In all probability this will happen with a coalition of URSM, DP and PFP, possibly supplemented with NOW or SAM. In the coming days, Philipsburg politics expects a declaration of intent or cooperation agreement from these parties.
And Silveria Jacobs, despite another victory, will have to see what the future holds. The party of the former prime minister has won three seats, she herself has not received enough votes to return to parliament.
Elections without incidents
Before the elections, Sint Maarten had called in the help of police officers from other countries in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom to patrol the streets. As a result, there was a noticeable police presence, but no major incidents were reported.
The polls on the island closed at 8 p.m. In total, 60 percent of the number of eligible voters went to vote, 13,964 valid votes were counted. It took until Tuesday morning 4 a.m. before all the votes were counted and the preliminary results could be announced.
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