A full vote recount did not change the result of St. Maarten’s election in terms of seats in Parliament. Some were therefore quick to dismiss the rather tedious exercise during a marathon public meeting as nothing but a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
However, that is not necessarily true. After all, the number of cast votes dropped by 260 and the valid ones by 272, while the turnout was two per cent lower, which influenced the seat quota too.
What’s more, some parties gained up to five votes while others lost as many as 12. These things did not alter the ultimate outcome, but the point is that they could have.
In addition, there were a few fairly close finishes between individual candidates of the same parties, in certain cases involving a handful of personal votes that determined who earned a seat and who didn’t. All this is now at least crystal-clear.
It’s also important to remember that some politicians who fell just short may still get into either legislative or executive office, because parties in the process of forming the next Government have said the seven new ministers will come from their candidate lists.
An overview of the final results is published on pages 24 through 27 of today’s edition as a fitting end to what has been an interesting election.
