PHILIPSBURG--Government can only be formed by political parties, not by individual Members of Parliament (MPs) who may have broken away from their parties. This is one of the ideas for electoral reform that National Alliance (NA) leader Prime Minister William Marlin has sent as “notes/instructions” to the newly established Electoral Reform Committee.
Marlin said in the Council of Ministers Press Briefing on Wednesday the idea is to get only political parties to negotiate to form any new Government for the country, thus taking away the ability of a single MP to break away from a party and lend support for the formation of a new coalition Government.
After an election, only mandated parties will be allowed to negotiate to form a coalition Government if no party receives the majority eight or more seats. Should an MP decide to break from the party on which slate he/she was elected, that MP will maintain “all rights and privileges” as a parliamentarian, except the ability to form a Government.
Marlin said this approach will inspire party loyalty and force MPs to work out differences within their party. If a scenario arrives where an MP does not want to support their party on an issue in Parliament, the party will have to lobby other MPs in Parliament for their vote, he said.
The current system of candidates who receive the highest number of votes on a party slate being elected to Parliament has created “heavy competition” in parties and has led to candidates unflatteringly talking about each other in public and private to get an edge.
Marlin added the current system also leads to candidates “shopping around” for the party that has the “best chance to be elected” with the least number of votes. This system does not foster “team players,” rather it creates “individual players” who have no party loyalty. “The party platform and infrastructure are used to get elected,” he said. This creates an environment ripe for ship jumpers.
Political parties have hefty responsibilities throughout the election process due to the electoral laws. However, once results are announced on election night, in essence, 15 independent MPs are created as each have the power to form a Government, Marlin said. The move to empower only parties to negotiate to form Government will hopefully put an end to the individualism.
The scenario that allowed the Coalition of Eight to be in office – the coming together of NA with four seats, the Democratic Party (DP) and United St. Maarten Party (USP) with one seat each and the inclusion of two independent MPs – will not be permissible in the future should Marlin’s proposal be adopted. The same would hold true for the originally United People’s (UP)-led coalition that came to power in October 2014 with the UP’s seven seats and MP Cornelius de Weever, who broke away from DP.
If no combination of parties with seats can form a majority in Parliament, under the proposal, then Article 59 of the Constitution will “kick in” to dissolve Parliament and call snap elections, said Marlin.
“With those changes, ship-jumping can become a thing of the past … it forces you to stay there [with the party – Ed.] and fight out the differences,” he said.
The Electoral Committee has also been instructed by Marlin to develop regulation to ensure an MP who gives up his/her seat to become a Minister is guaranteed the return of the seat should they want it back. This “seat return guarantee” will ensure a Minister, who was elected to Parliament, gets back his/her seat within 24 hours of resigning from the Cabinet in a Parliament term.
The return guarantee will especially be good for party leaders and deputy leaders who the people want to see in the Cabinet, said Marlin. At present, there is always reluctance to leave Parliament to take up a Minister’s post as there is no seat return guarantee in place, he added.
Asked if his proposal will require changes to the Constitution, Marlin said some experts say no while others have a different opinion. He is leaving it up to the “experts” on the Larmonie Electoral Reform Committee to work it out. One member of the committee that was installed last week is on vacation and will return in January. At that time, the Committee will start its work.
Marlin said he will seek the support of Parliament and the Kingdom Government for the electoral system changes. If changes are needed to the Constitution, Marlin said the support of all MPs should be counted on, especially those of the former UP-led coalition based on their expressed wish to end ship-jumping. That wish was the catalyst for the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet’s National Decree establishing snap elections on February 9, 2016. That date has since been changed to September 26, 2016 by the current Coalition.
Another change Marlin wants is the elimination of gathering outside polling stations on election day. He has also proposed all political paraphernalia be removed from the country 48 hours before election day. These are in an effort to truly have free and fair elections, said Marlin.
Voters “bombarded” at polling stations by party supporters and even leaders as well as posters “some as big as a container” do not constitute free elections, Marlin said.
Voters will not be allowed to wear any political paraphernalia to the polling stations. They will be allowed to wear party colours, but not a party T-shirt, for example, said Marlin.
