~ Heyliger biggest vote-getter ~
PHILIPSBURG--Country St. Maarten will have a coalition government, as the National Alliance (NA) won seven of the 15 seats in the expanded Island Council that will become the first parliament on October 10.
The party was one seat short of a clear majority to be able to go into government without support from the United People's (UP) party (six seats) or the two seats of the Democratic Party (DP).
NA leader William Marlin has indicated that he will begin talks with the two other parties on Saturday on forming the new government.
The results as announced by Acting Lt. Governor Reynold Groeneveldt after 2:00am Saturday for what was termed an "early" Island Council election will be verified by the Main Voting Bureau in Dr. A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall at 10:00am on Monday.
NA, headed by William Marlin, received a total of 6,273 votes from the 16 polling stations; UP, led by Theo Heyliger, 4,936 votes; DP, headed by Sarah Wescot-Williams, 2,340 votes; and Concordia Political Alliance (CPA) 127 votes.
CPA headed by former DP candidate Jeffrey Richardson received less votes than the number of signatures (134) its list had needed to be take part in Friday's elections.
New parliament
Sitting in the new parliament from NA will be Marlin (1,590 votes), Frans Richardson (695), Patrick Illidge (593), Lloyd Richardson (476), George Pantophlet (425), Louie Laveist (351) and Hyacinth Richardson (334). Lloyd Richardson is the only newcomer to the political scene from the NA.
UP parliamentarians will be Heyliger (2,912), Gracita Arrindell (335), and the four other newcomers to the political scene who will serve in the first parliament of Country St. Maarten: Silvia Meyers-Olivacce (255), Romain Laville (186), Jules James (152) and Rhoda Arrindell (120).
Wescot-Williams (1,368) and Leroy de Weever (174) will serve for DP.
With a coalition government to be formed, it is possible that some of the parliamentarians-elect may give up their seats to be able to serve as ministers. In such a case, their places in parliament will be passed to the next highest vote-getters on their respective parties' slates.
Country St. Maarten will have a dualistic system with the legislative branch (Parliament) separate from the Executive Branch (the Council of Ministers).
This means that members can serve in only one branch, not both as in the present Island Council system that comes to an end with the dissolution of Country Netherlands Antilles and the emergence of countries-within-the-kingdom St. Maarten and Curaçao and Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.
Highest vote-getters
The highest vote-getter for the election was Heyliger, who formed the green party in July, after breaking with DP in May 2009 and going into a coalition with NA. Heyliger garnered 2,912 votes, an increase from the 1,841 votes he got in the 2007 Island Council elections.
The second highest vote-getter was Marlin with 1,590. He received three votes less than in 2007.
Wescot-Williams was the third highest vote-getter with 1,368 votes, down from 2,188 in the elections of April 2007.
End of term
Several familiar faces on the political scene were not elected to parliament, but could end up serving depending on the outcome of the coalition talks.
Not elected to parliament are Island Council member Maria Buncamper-Molanus and Roy Marlin of DP and Rodolphe Samuel (NA).
