Curaçao’s Advisory Council has questioned a private member’s bill of coalition party “Pueblo Soberano” (PS) restricting the voting rights of European Dutchmen on the island. The proposal is deemed to be in contravention of both the
Constitution and the Kingdom Charter.
The PS fraction in Parliament wants people who came from the Netherlands to have been legal residents for five years without interruption before they are allowed to participate in local elections. But although certain limitations are possible to solve technical problems in a practical manner, that’s not the case here, stated the Council.
Such a move erodes the basically equal treatment principle for Dutch citizens in all parts of the kingdom as originally intended. Also former inhabitants of St. Maarten and Aruba plus the so-called BES islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) would be affected.
The party of Prime Minister Ben Whiteman had cited the need to protect a small community from the disproportional impact of an emigrant flow out of the much larger country the Netherlands. The reasoning was that persons who only recently arrived and might soon leave again – including the many Dutch interns – are neither in a position nor should they be allowed to help decide on the future of Curaçao.
However, the Council is not convinced of that and whether it in any case justifies such a drastic measure. To the contrary, the tendency in the Netherlands has actually been to make municipal elections more inclusive by letting non-Dutch foreigners with long-time residency participate.
In addition, while normally the voter registry is closed for everyone a certain period before going to the polls, the change would entail extra cost for the Supreme Electoral Council to check how long Dutch passport holders born elsewhere have been on the island so they aren’t sent a voting card. The draft law gives no indications how this added expense can be covered.
The advice is relevant because of regular efforts in The Hague to restrict the admittance of nationals from the islands. One of the main arguments in opposing these is precisely that there may be only one single type of citizenship within the Dutch Kingdom and, for that matter, the European Union (EU). Demanding that this is respected in the Netherlands while at the same time trying to differentiate at home is contradictory to say the least; much like wanting to have the proverbial cake and eat it too.
