Louis-Constant elected
Senator for St. Martin
MARIGOT--Louis-Constant Fleming was voted St. Martin’s first Senator at an internal election held in the Préfecture on Sunday, a predictable result for many, given the fact there were no defectors in the ranks of the majority party.
It is the first time St. Martin is having direct representation in parliament. Fleming has the distinction of having held the position of first President of the Collectivité under the new status, and now the first Senator.
Only the 23 Territorial Councillors and the Deputy Senator Victorin Lurel were eligible to vote in the election which was closed off to the press.
The result was settled in the first round of voting between 8:30am and 11:00am with the former Collectivité president winning 17 votes to coast well clear of opposition party candidates Guillaume Arnell who won 5 votes and Louis Mussington 2.
Outsiders, the artist Mathias Durand-Reynaldo and lawyer Patricia Chance-Duzant received no votes.
Fleming told The Daily Herald afterwards the fact that there had never before been a St. Martiner either in the National Assembly or the Senate to take up the specific files “had done St. Martin a lot of harm.”
“St. Martin is not Guadeloupe. My first goal is to make the Overseas Collectivité of St. Martin exist on the level of Paris, making sure every department and ministry knows about us,” said Fleming who leaves on his first assignment today. “In the minds of these ministers, they still think St. Martin is part of Guadeloupe.”
Secondly, I will be working on making the necessary reforms to the organic law. We accepted that it was major step forward for St. Martin but there are issues with it that have to be changed. Thirdly, the Evaluation Commission has still not come up with the final amounts of the compensation, or even a draft, for the transfer of competencies, and this has to be addressed.
And with regard to the development programme for overseas territories, there are articles in that law that we need to make sure stay in and that we can get a better deal on now that we have a senator who can lobby on the spot. With the French side economy as it is, it will be extremely important to help the business sector wherever possible.”
Commented President of the Collectivité Frantz Gumbs: “The result confirms our expectations. We are very happy to have a senator who we believe has the capability of doing great work on behalf of St. Martin. He and I are on the same wavelength as far as the files are concerned. While I will be occupied locally, Louis-Constant Fleming will deal with Paris and Europe and I’m sure he will be very efficient.”
But the election result was not good news for other candidates who were possibly hoping at the last minute Fleming would be declared ineligible based on his State Council sanction.
“I’m not at all convinced Fleming is about defending the interest of the people in this country,” said Mussington. “He hasn’t shown that forceful and determined spirit so I’m not expecting any big decisions or a firm stand from him. But I’m proud that I went into the election with a clear agenda and I will continue to defend those ideas.”
RRR candidate Guillaume Arnell could not be contacted for his reaction to the results.
Over in St. Barths, Michel Magras was elected Senator after he won 18 of the 20 votes.
