Electoral reform was in the spotlight again on Thursday as the Central Committee of Parliament continued its discussion with political scientist Julio Romney on his draft initiative
law to address primarily a practice referred to as “ship-jumping.” The latter contributed to having no fewer than five different governments since country status was achieved per 10-10-10.
The lack of continuity and political instability this caused is considered undesirable by many, including Governor Eugene Holiday who specifically asked the interim William Marlin Cabinet being formed at the time to tackle the issue. It was also the main argument to postpone early elections originally scheduled for February 9 until September 26.
Most people are sceptical, also because the current NA/DP/USP/Lake/Matser coalition thanks its very existence to the support of two so-called independent (former UP) parliamentarians who thus “jumped ship” to bring down the then-Marcel Gumbs Cabinet. Moreover, USP leader Frans Richardson, who represented NA during the previous legislative term and then went independent before forming his own party, has been involved in two of the four changes in government resulting from shifts in parliamentary majorities going back to when the new relations within the Dutch Kingdom took effect on 10-10-10.
Nevertheless, with public pressure to fix the problem mounting, it appears there is a willingness among the elected representatives to do something. As such they must be given the benefit of the doubt at least for the time being.
The main aspect of Romney’s proposal is that only candidates who earn a Parliament seat directly with preferential votes will “own” such. In all other cases the seats will belong to the party, which at the moment would be the situation for every member except UP leader Theo Heyliger.
The expert said an amendment to the Constitution requiring a two-thirds majority in Parliament is not necessary, because a distinction already is made between seats earned outright and those assigned based presently on number of personal votes and before the so-called “Lynch Law” on their position on the candidate list. This can be specified further by just adjusting the Election Ordinance,
However, as among others NA fraction member Rodolphe Samuel pointed out, the idea appears in contrast with the oath of office legislators take to act according to their conscience. It also could be seen as creating seats with a different value.
The latter is also an issue – be it perhaps less so – with the broad suggestion made by Prime Minister William Marlin. In his plan a parliamentarian still would be able to go independent, but his or her seat then could not be used to establish a majority and form a government.
An Electoral Reform Committee now has been established to work on this scenario and it was revealed during Thursday’s meeting that they had not yet spoken with Romney. To prevent further duplication of efforts, it seems advisable to have such a consultation sooner rather than later.
