MP Claude Peterson.
PHILIPSBURG--First-time Member of Parliament (MP) Claude Peterson has been elected second vice-chairman of the legislature. He joins in the presidium fellow MPs Sarah Wescot-Williams (parliament chairwoman) and Theo Heyliger (first vice-chairman).
The lone representative of St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) in Parliament was elected by a secret ballot of eight fellow MPs in a plenary sitting of Parliament on Monday morning. A total of 12 MPs cast ballots in the election. Three of those ballots were blank and one was in favour of Peterson’s fellow coalition MP Dr. Luc Mercelina.
The post of second vice-chairman became available in April when then MP, now Education and Culture Minister Wycliffe Smith resigned from Parliament and all related posts. According to the Constitution, SMCP leader Smith had to resign to take up the post of a minister. He also now serves as deputy prime minister in the current Leona Romeo-Marlin Cabinet II.
