~ Gumbs: Governor must sign decree first ~
HARBOUR VIEW--Once the Council of Ministers “make their positions available,” Governor Eugene Holiday said he “shall sign the national decree to call for new elections and dissolve Parliament once it is in compliance with the electoral laws.” This is based on the advice sought by the governor from the panel of three judges.
A salient point of that advice is that the governor is not obliged to sign a national decree based on Article 59, paragraph 1, of the Constitution provided by the “caretaker” Council of Ministers to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections, “until they make their positions available in keeping with the Constitution and that “the task of the interim government would then be to, among other tasks, prepare the new elections.”
Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, in reaction told The Daily Herald, his cabinet will not resign before the draft decree to dissolve Parliament is signed by the governor. “I don’t know under what authorities the judges are working, but I am following the professors of constitutional law.”
Gumbs added, “The governor must sign my resolution first and give the people option democratically.”
The governor’s statement, issued on Wednesday evening, came as a result of advice received from a special “independent” panel of three judges on the constitution related impasse between the Coalition of Eight in Parliament and the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet.
Having discussed the advice with Gumbs and the leaders of the Coalition of Eight, the governor said he has “repeated” his call to the Council of Ministers “to make their positions available” and also repeated his call on them “in the interest of St. Maarten to continue their duties by doing that which is necessary for the day-to-day operations of government until a decision has been taken concerning their resignation.”
In his statement about the advice, the governor said he “wishes to confirm” that “there is no basis not to form a new government” and “should the new majority decide to do so as expressed” he shall “take steps to facilitate the formation of an interim government based on the new majority in Parliament.”
The advice has been shared by the governor with both parties in the impasse that started on September 30 when the Coalition of Eight passed a motion of no confidence against the cabinet. The cabinet retaliated by submitting a decree to the government to dissolve Parliament and call snap elections. Those two actions spiralled to the governor seeking the advice he received on Wednesday.
The “key conclusions” of that advice are that Cabinet when faced with a motion of no confidence based on Article 33, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, must make their positions available as soon as possible, without reservation and the Article 40, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, provides the basis, following the motion of no confidence, for the new majority in Parliament to form an interim government and dismiss the existing caretaker Council of Ministers.
The panel of judges rendering the advice to the governor comprised President of the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, E.J. Van der Poel, President of the Constitutional Court of St. Maarten Jacob Wit, and Jan. de Boer, a judge serving on both courts who was recommended by the presidents of two courts.
The governor encouraged all parties “to study” the Constitution and the panel’s advice “carefully and reflect.” He said, “We have a strong and balanced Constitution, one that provides us with important democratic freedoms, rights, obligations and safeguards.”
On the authorities of Parliament and of the Council of Ministers, he said it is essential to note that in the dualistic system of government, the authorities of both branches of government are “separate and independent but limited by the rule of law. It is regrettable that both branches did not meet in Parliament and debate their respective positions.”
It is the governor’s hope that this “constitutional advice” will serve to resolve the situation and functions as “a guide for the handling of future political differences of this nature.”
He appealed to all stakeholders to do all that is necessary to maintain and protect the integrity of the constitutional democracy and to foster actions in accordance with the Constitution “to safeguard our common cause: St. Maarten.”
He added, “No decision regarding the interest of the people should be taken lightly.” As such the decision to sign a decree to dissolve Parliament or not to sign and send it to the Kingdom Council of Ministers as well as to request a formateur to form a new government “should never be taken lightly and even more so considering the potential implications of the developed situation for an orderly constitutional process.”
It is “the obligation” of the governor to safeguard an orderly constitutional process by encouraging all parties to act in keeping with the fundamental principles of the parliamentary democracy based on the rule of law. “This obligation follows from the Regulations for the Governor as well as the oath taken by the Governor that he cannot execute, ratify, or mandate, a decision that is in violation with the laws of St. Maarten,” cited the governor’s statement.
