WILLEMSTAD--National Alliance (NA) leader Williams Marlin met with Governor of the Netherlands Antilles Frits Goedgedrag Tuesday afternoon to discuss the formation of a new Central Government cabinet following Friday’s parliamentary elections.
Marlin told The Daily Herald that talks centred on what type of cabinet should take up the reins of government in the stretch to country status. He said the preference was for a political cabinet and not a business one, which usually takes office after a crisis.
The responsibility should lie with the politicians who went out into their communities and asked the people for their support, Marlin said.
The governor met with and gave all party leaders who received one or more seats in the parliamentary elections a list of seven questions dealing with the cabinet formation that they have to return by Thursday.
The questions, according to Marlin, reflect the topics discussed during the meeting.
In Friday’s elections the National Alliance captured all three parliament seats allocated to St. Maarten leaving main rival Democratic Party out of what is to be the last parliament of the Netherlands Antilles.
Based on the consultation with the leaders and the answers supplied, Goedgedrag will decide whether an “informateur” - the person who will hold informal talks with the party leaders to see if they are willing to be in the Central Government coalition - or a “formateur” - who will move right ahead with the formation of the new cabinet – will be appointed.
This new parliament and similarly the cabinet are only expected to last seven months, because the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the emergence of country St. Maarten and country Curaçao are slated for October 10.
The new parliament that will take office on March 26 will have as St. Maarten parliamentarians Rodolphe Samuel and George Pantophlet, who have been serving in the current legislative as of June 2009. Joining them will be Henrietta Doran-York, a first timer to parliament.
