PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo sees the initiative by Prime Minister William Marlin to explore the possibilities of allowing St. Maarten students studying in Holland to vote in the upcoming elections, as discriminatory.
She said the statements by Prime Minister Marlin that only students in the Netherlands will be considered “falls short to cater to all students.
“One must ask about those students who are studying in Aruba and Curaçao? What about those students who actually upheld the law and gave their addresses abroad as they are studying in places such as Canada and in the Spanish, and British Caribbean region. This can be seen as discriminatory. To ensure that there are no disparities between students, the initiative law proposed by me includes all students in general who are not residing on the island,” the MP said in a press release issued on Sunday.
She also raised the issue of Dutch St. Maarteners living in French St. Martin. “It is important to note that the law requires the Civil Registry Department to ensure that its data is accurate. It is known that there are Dutch St Maarten persons residing on French St Martin, but are registered at the Civil Registry Department. These individuals vote in our elections because they are written on the address of their families. This particular group are counted in the statistics of the department when in actuality they are not residents. This is part of a greater dilemma that government faces.”
The MP said she is in favour of allowing Dutch St Maarteners living in French St. Martin the right to vote in any election held in Dutch St. Maarten. “However, those individuals should not be written in, in the Central Basic Administration, as this corrupts the data. I am proposing that a separate voting registry be created to allow those individuals the ability to register and vote.
“This separate registry would register only particular groups such as students not residing on the island and French St. Martin voters. In my opinion, this is a win-win situation as the Civil Registry Department on one hand would be able to update its records and distribute more accurate data regarding the exact number of persons living on the island, and on the other hand both students and Dutch St. Maarteners residing on French St. Martin will not lose their right to vote.”
The MP said all measures must be taken to ensure that “trustworthy, reliable and accurate data is produced and distributed by the Civil Registry Department.”
She said there are three types of persons in the basic administration: Residents (registered persons who actually reside in St Maarten); non-residents (registered persons who moved to a country outside the Kingdom) and residents who are written out (registered persons who moved from St. Maarten and resides within the Kingdom).
“Persons who are residing within the Dutch Kingdom for more than two-thirds of a year in another country rather than St. Maarten must be written out and register themselves in the basic administration of the place where they residing at that time.” When it comes to the Netherlands, Aruba and Curaçao, these persons are to be written out of the system in St. Maarten and “will lose their right to vote.”
“Persons who are residing for more than two-thirds of a year in another country outside of the Kingdom have to register this in the basic administration of St. Maarten. It does not matter whether that country has a basic administration or not. The basic administration is a unique system within the Kingdom. Once this person is registered on an address in that country, they will be registered in the basic administration of St. Maarten as a non-resident and they will lose their right to vote,” she said.
“The law states that all persons, this includes all students that are not residing in St. Maarten, must register their new address abroad in the Basic Administration. In both cases persons will lose their right to vote. Those who move within the Kingdom and those outside of the Kingdom: the law does not distinguish between the places of study. There are no distinctions between the USA and the Netherlands related to the elections.”
The MP said she had submitted an initiative to change the Basic Administration Law and the Electoral Law on August 17, 2015. She said the laws seek to broaden the possibility of giving certain groups of persons the right to vote. She added that while studying in the Netherlands from 1998 to 2001, the right to vote as a student had the attention of students and others such as now MP Christophe Emmanuel, who championed the cause of giving voting privileges to St. Maarten nationals studying abroad.
She said, however, that no initiatives had been taken to allow students the right to vote. Marlin-Romeo said she had been working on the draft initiative to change the Electoral Law and the law that governs the Basic Administration. “The Council of Advice has rendered its opinion on the initiative and responded in late November of 2015, that the Constitution will have to be changed in order to allow persons who are not registered on the island the ability to vote.
“Changing the constitution requires a two-third of the majority in Parliament and the broad-base support of all Parliamentarians will be sought to ensure that this law is implemented,” she said.
The MP said she anticipates a “fruitful debate” when the legislation is debated in Parliament.
