The Electoral Council was recently installed on St. Maarten to promote a transparent and democratic structure of political parties as well as to ensure good governance and proper financial administration by both political parties and the candidates.
All parties contesting the upcoming elections are required by law to submit an application in writing requesting for registration by the Electoral Council in accordance with the legal stipulations in the National Ordinance on Registration and Finances of Political Parties. Political parties must be established by notarized deed as an association with members who can cast their votes in a democratic and transparent manner on the policy of the party.
The Electoral Council will review whether the stipulations laid down in the National Ordinance on the articles of incorporation have been complied with and included in the Articles of Incorporation of the Political party.
The National Ordinance on Registration and Finances of Political Parties can be found in the Dutch and the English languages on the Sint Maarten Government website. Political parties and persons who intend to be candidates are advised to carefully review this Ordinance.
The Electoral Council will open its doors to the general public on April 1, 2014. The office is located on Back Street No. 145 B. The office hours are from 13:30 to 17:30 hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from 9:00 to 13:00 hours on Thursdays and Fridays. The office can be reached by telephone nos: 542 5088/542 5087. Currently, the Electoral Council website is under construction.
The Electoral council will be embarking on an information campaign to provide information to the general public and to existing and upcoming political parties and potential candidates on the tasks of the Electoral Council, the National Ordinance on Registration and Finance and the consequences in case of non-compliance with the law.
As part of the information campaign, the Electoral Council will be giving presentations to the Council of Ministers, to Parliament and to other agencies in the upcoming period.
In collaboration with the University of St. Martin the Electoral Council has scheduled its first information session to the general public on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at the University of St. Martin. This information session will start at 7:00 p.m. sharp.
The Electoral Council is hereby inviting the general public, and in particular the political parties, potential candidates as well as the business community to come out to this very informative session to be informed of the electoral reforms that have taken place.
For more information, please contact the Electoral Council at 542 5088/542 5087 during its office hours.