By Andre Huie
PHILIPSBURG — Some candidates contesting the August 19 snap parliamentary elections in St. Maarten are calling for electoral reform to help minimize defection of parliamentarians that often times lead to the collapse of coalition governments. This snap election comes just six months after voters in St. Maarten would have voted in January 2024 after a member of parliament withdrew his support from the coalition government, forcing Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina to call fresh elections, 17 days into the new government taking office.
Leader of the Soualiga Action Movement Franklyn Meyers, suggested that St. Maarten should adopt a runoff system similar to what happens on French St. Martin and the French electoral system. He believes this will greatly minimize independent members of parliament collapsing coalition governments.
“I like the system on the French side. The French side has a run off system. It’s based on democracy. If you don’t have the required quota (of votes) in the first round, your party is eliminated. The two larger parties then face off the following week. Then you have a government,” Meyers explained. “Someone can declare themselves independent in the French system, but it does not hamper the governing of the country,” he added.
Meyers noted that the political system on St. Maarten is not unique to the island as it the same system used in Aruba, Curacao and other territories. “It doesn’t work for St. Maarten. Why it doesn’t work? Because of (political) immaturity,” he said.
Meanwhile, candidate for the United Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) Michael Somersall, while touting electoral reform, believes there must be legislative changes that stipulate that seats won in parliament belong to the political parties and not the candidate. “You might not have to change the whole legislation, but once again, little amendments would have to count,” he said. He also believes political parties should take greater effort to scrutinize who they select as candidates. “That’s where the (political) maturity comes in. When you are sitting (in parliament) you are not sitting there for yourself, you are representing the people,” he said.
Somersall however does not believe majority of the political parties contesting this election are serious about electoral reform, as they would have done this already when they had MPs previously elected to parliament. Nine political parties are contesting August 19 snap elections in St. Maarten for the available 15 parliamentary seats.
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