With its decision to leave the issue of the National Decree dissolving Parliament and calling a snap election infringing on the Constitution up to the Kingdom Council of Ministers (see related story), the recently-sworn-in Government of St. Maarten in a certain sense “washed its hands” of the matter. Understandably, as there is just one month left before the country is scheduled to go to the polls.
While this newspaper originally supported the idea of an interim cabinet being installed by the new UP/DP/Brownbill majority delaying the election further because of the current dire situation on the island, it took much too long before the Ministers were appointed into office. By now the participating political parties and their candidates are duly registered, those needing to prove voter support have done so and list numbers as well as colours already have been given out.
One must seriously doubt as well whether the Netherlands would even entertain any actions to stop that ongoing process at this point. When the widely undesired election was first announced and people started protesting, Dutch politicians and public administrators alike quickly indicated they wanted no part of interfering with the population making use of their democratic right.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the January 22 letter from Philipsburg to The Hague was sent completely in vain or is entirely useless. After all, the manner in which elections were postponed in 2016 too was deemed unconstitutional by Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin, among others, and it’s important to get some resolution on the topic also due to apparently conflicting terms in Electoral Law and the Constitution.
It seems there is no way back from an early return to the polls on February 26, but there are still definitely lessons to learned and ambiguities to clear up.
