To Ensure that Electorate Chooses the Right Representatives
PM Satisfied With Session in Parliament. Places Emphasis on Educating Electorate
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams stated on her weekly radio show One on One with the Prime Minister on 98.1 on Friday that she was satisfied with the recent session held in Parliament regarding Electoral and Campaign Reform. The Prime Minister stated that the most important way forward at this time is to inform the public as to what is and what is not allowed with regards to voting and elections: "I believe that I achieved what I wanted to during this first meeting of this topic in Parliament. The whole intention behind this discussion was to get Parliament’s feedback and get the discussion going. In my introduction I mentioned that the most important thing right now is that together we inform ourselves and the people of St. Maarten on matters related to electoral reform," commented the Prime Minister.
The PM also emphasized that one of the issues she will be diligently working on is the suggestion from Parliament to do away with the black curtains while voting: "What I will do now in analyzing all of these issues that were discussed in Parliament is to come up with concrete proposals in what we will need to do to address the suggestions as were put forth in Parliament, including that of the DP Faction, and in particular MP Roy Marlin, to do away with the black curtains while voting. That is something that can now be easily accomplished. The establishment of the voting booth itself can easily be changed with no black curtains being necessary while the citizen is still being able to cast his or her own vote in secret.
"The Parliament has asked Government to make illegal the act of buying votes and coerce or offer to accept money in order to cast or not to cast a vote. I explained to Parliament that those matters are already prohibited according to the law. The penal code already establishes which actions are not allowed. Buying and selling votes are specifically not mentioned in our penal code. In order to attain a vote for legally prescribed election is punishable by law. It does not say that a member of government or parliament helps some one at any given time," stated the Prime Minister.
Wescot-Williams further emphasized that there is a need to move away from accusations and politicking and more focus should be placed on having the elections be the uninhibited voice of the people of St. Maarten in choosing for their representatives: "I can compare this to the matter of integrity. It is going to take time; a changed mindset for all. One of the main things that we need to focus on is changing how persons, political parties and voters are accusing one another and are throwing out allegations and personal attacks. I think that together we need to turn things in the right direction or else no one will have confidence in our elections and our politicians anymore. Even in Parliament there are jabs flying left and right and accusing colleagues of all kinds of things. We cannot let our election continue to be clouded under these types of conditions. We together as St. Maarten need to say that we don’t want that any longer and that together we will put things back on the right course. We need to put the focus on elections being the uninhibited voice of the people in choosing for the governance of our country," stressed the Prime Minister.