What’s up with the elections in Sint Marten?
The next step of the elections will take place on September 26 for the 126 candidates of the nine parties in the race. That’s the day when the inhabitants of St Maarten will vote to elect the 15 members of their parliament. Out of the thirteen parties who had registered with the Electoral Council, only nine have submitted a list of candidates. Since September 2, they have been assigned a number and a color:
1 OSPP (One St. Maarten People Party) - Purple
2 UP (The United People’s Party) - Green
3 US (United St. Maarten Party) - Blue
4 SDM (St. Maarten Development Movement) - Grey
5 SMCP (Sint Maarten Christian Party) - Brown
6 HOPE (Helping Our People Excel Association) - Magenta
7 PPA (People’s Progressive Alliance Association ) – Orange
8 DP (The Democratic Party of Sint Maarten ) - Red
9 NA (The National Alliance) - White
There were almost only eight parties to compete. The new party HOPE came extremely close to being eliminated since they hadn’t collected the sufficient number of signatures (146) to validate their candidature during Endorsment Day. But the Central Voting Bureau granted them three additional days during which HOPE gathered the missing signatures in order to stay in the race. All the parties benefited from this extension between August 15 - 18 to correct the various problems observed by the CVB during its review of the lists.
The US Party had to face a huge problem. The Central Voting Office noticed that they lacked the mandatory documents to validate the fifteenth candidature on their list. Since this candidate was away from the island for a few days, this issue could not be solved in time. The US Party therefore decided to replace him with another candidate. But according to the electoral ordinance, no name can be added after Postulation Day (August 8, 2016). The CVB therefore excluded the substitute. The party appealed this decision. But the court handed down its verdict on September 2 and upheld the Central Voting Bureau’s decision to eliminate candidate no. 15. Due to carelessness, one of the main parties will present its list without a #15. Now, we must wait for the results of the elections in order to know if this incident was prejudicial to them.
