~ PvdA party suspects political motivations ~
THE HAGUE--The Labour Party PvdA in the Second Chamber suspects that political motives have played a role in the decision of Bonaire’s Executive Council to exclude a group of Dutch European nationals from voting in the referendum.
According to PvdA Members of Parliament John Leerdam and Paul Kalma, the Executive Council is violating an advice of the United Nations (UN) which already referred to a large number of incorrect issues in the proposals of the referendum committee.
Leerdam and Kalma on Friday posed a series of written questions to Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten. They wanted the State Secretary to take action and correct the situation.
The MPs sought clarity about the draft Island Ordinance Referendum Bonaire 2010 which says European Dutch nationals can only vote in the referendum if they were living in Bonaire before January 1, 2007.
Bonaire’s government plans to organise a referendum on March 26 relating to the current constitutional process to integrate Bonaire into the Netherlands as a “public entity.” UPB Leader Ramonsito Booi has already raised the issue of exclusion of a group of Dutch European nationals.
“Is it true that the Executive Council with this decision rejected the UN advice to give voting rights to European Dutch nationals living in Bonaire before September 15, 2009?” Leerdam and Kalma asked the State Secretary if she shared the UN’s view that the current draft Island Ordinance is “problematic” and “unjustly” excludes many citizens from voting.
The MPs wanted to know whether the Dutch European nationals in question were allowed to vote in the recent Parliamentary elections and which regulation in the area of voting rights was applied for Dutch European nationals during the 2004 referendum in Bonaire.
Leerdam and Kalma assumed that political motivations of Jopie Abraham of the ADB party played a role. They asked Bijleveld-Schouten whether she suspected that this was indeed the case.
The MPs wanted the State Secretary to immediately seek clarity from the Executive Council and to see if there are possibilities to correct the restriction of voting rights of Dutch European nationals.
