People are being asked for a lot of patience these days, with the continuing garbage situation (see related story) and GEBE’s power cuts. The problem is that both issues have been ongoing, but then
again some things do take time.
The latter is certainly true about the intended electoral reform to combat so-called ship-jumping, which now appears to have become a virtual “mission impossible” before citizens go to the polls on September 26. Both the Kingdom Government and Council of State have serious objections to the proposed changes in the Constitution and while Prime Minister William Marlin may lament their hanging on to the “free mandate” principle that goes back 62 years, there is in reality little St. Maarten can do about it.
Not that he and other local politicians weren’t warned beforehand on several occasions that in effect creating two types of parliamentarians – one who can and one who can’t help form governments – was going to be questioned. And even if a “new majority” that includes one or more ship-jumpers would not be able to hire and fire Ministers, it could still hamper the existing cabinet’s ability to govern via a boycott in the legislature.
The prime minister deserves credit for not entering into speculations about delaying the election once again to allow more time for introducing the reforms. After all, the last postponement from February was already controversial at best, so a repeat at this late stage would not only cause public uproar, but actually could cast doubt over the country’s entire democratic process, which is obviously a highly undesirable scenario.
