Several political parties participating in Curaçao’s pre-elections Saturday and Sunday had expressed dissatisfaction with the activities organised by other parties currently represented in Parliament during the same weekend. “Mihó Kòrsou”, UP, “Era Nobo”, MDDK, Civil Rights and “Pueblo Soberano” argued that these events were distracting the public and hindering citizens from endorsing their respective candidate lists.
Were the parties already guaranteed a spot on the ballot in March guilty of trying to keep “newcomers” out? Perhaps concerning their own following that might be the case, but can you blame them?
Should a political group attempting to qualify depend on those who will likely vote for others in the election itself? Various have done so successfully in the past based on such “sympathy” support, only to disappoint at the actual poll later.
The idea of requiring backing by 1% of the most recent valid vote also in St. Maarten is to prevent political fragmentation yet allow low-threshold access in the interest of democracy. To be sure, the number of votes needed for a seat in the legislature is much higher.
History has shown that some have trouble qualifying while others don’t. The same goes for earning the first seat, which is a must to be even be considered for so-called residual seats.
One can safely conclude that getting on the ballot is no walk in the park, but it’s not very hard either, if able to muster enough support. The existing rules and process in this regard appear reasonably balanced.