Louis Mussington
MARIGOT--Opposition Councillor and leader of Movement for Justice and Prosperity (MJP) Louis Mussington is urging St. Martin citizens to vote en masse in the upcoming French Presidential Election, as a large turnout sends a good message to France, particularly for future negotiations with Ministers over the affairs of the Collectivité, he suggested.
The first round of the election, for St. Martin voters, is this Saturday, April 22, 2017.
“We have decided to give our full backing to the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, as according to the polls he is strongly tipped to defeat Marine Le Pen in the second round,” he said. “Why Macron? Because there are similarities with his programmes’ objectives and what we want to achieve in St. Martin.
On education he is proposing to reduce the number of pupils in first and second grade, and we have always said overcrowded classrooms are not in the best interests of pupils who are not mastering the French language.
“He is also advocating more teachers and this will speed up the process of having young St. Martiners recruited and trained to be teachers for the bilingual programme that must take place here.
“Secondly, we must modify our existing Organic Law. Macron says full attention will be paid to each Collectivité separately on this aspect to deal with the issues of each.
“Thirdly, we have always argued strongly in favour of economic growth in St. Martin. Wealth that can be generated from economic growth would be distributed through public policies in areas of social, cultural and sports development. It’s another reason why we are supporting Macron’s policies.
“Lastly, small business development is another priority for Macron where he wants to change the social contribution system back to the employee and employer contributing to the same social coffers. This measure will mean lower social charges so we would encourage St. Martiners to open up their own businesses.”
All 19 voting stations used in the local Territorial Council Election will be used for the Presidential Election. Voting hours on Saturday, April 22, are from 8:00am to 7:00pm.
