Prime Minister;Constitution stipulates that Parliaments govern for four years

"Elections would have to take place at the time so that Parliament can complete its term of four years based on the constitutional article"

The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams emphasized during a radio interview over the weekend that the proposed election date during the beginning of September is something which was regulated by law and one which political parties agreed to prior to 10-10-10; "Elections, regularly speaking, would have to take place at the time so that Parliament can complete its term of four years based on the constitutional article. When the decision was taken for Parliament to start on 10-10-10 automatically the consequence of that was that the new parliament will take its seat on 10-10-14 which would mean, taking the necessary terms into consideration, that elections would have to take place in September. There are many steps that need to be taken into account with regards to elections, starting with establishing who can vote on St. Maarten. There is also a period of time if you are not taken up in the voting register of St. Maarten where you can request that your vote be taken up. Based on the voters register persons will receive their voting cards and all of this is tied in to a specific period of time. If we want to have a discussion on the date of elections you need to revisit the date of the tenth of October. It cannot be so that every election year a discussion is gong to come up regarding the date of elections. Every month we can find reasons in favor of or against; in September it is Hurricane Season, in July Vacation, in June Exams etc.," commented Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.

 

The Prime Minister also discussed the issue of dissolving Parliament which would result in so-called unstable or snap elections; "There has also been a lot of discussions regarding the dissolving of Parliament by National Decree. The instrument of dissolving Parliament is only to be used when the Governing of a country is no longer possible. If there is an impasse with no solution then Government can dissolve Parliament when the matter of elections takes on a different form. The article states that on the date that that decree is taken three months from that date a new Parliament needs to sit. If the Minister of General Affairs decides there is a serious impasse and if I recognize the case I can decide that there is no other choice but to dissolve Parliament.

"So-called snap elections can only take place if Parliament is dissolved. In the case of 10-10-14 the new Parliament needs to count back and take all of the steps into consideration. For example the fact that eighty to ninety days are necessary to be calculated for the first week in September. The constitution stipulates that Parliaments govern for four years unless they are dissolved. When 10-10-10 was being considered for the date of a country I had my reservations which I expressed at that time but this had nothing to do with Hurricanes but with the technicalities involved. My wish at the time was that the new election year starts in January. The DP was in opposition so the majority then decided on 10-10-10 with all of the subsequent consequences. The fact remains that now the DP is a part of Government and I am responsible for an election date and I need to ensure that the work is done."