The right thing
By asking party colleague Louie Laveist to resign from both the Executive and Island Councils, DP-St. Maarten leader Sarah Wescot-Williams is doing the right thing. As he has been detained on suspicion of forgery, it would be incorrect to allow the commissioner and councilman to stay on.
Not just incorrect, but also practically impossible. Even if Laveist agreed to continue supporting the current Executive Council, without his physical presence at public Island Council meetings government would be left without a majority.
The question now is whether Laveist will resign. While the party leader expressed confidence he would, some suggest that giving up all political leverage at this point is not an attractive option.
As the case of FOL leader Anthony Godett in Curaçao proved, there is no provision in the Antillean Islands Regulation ERNA that elected members of the Executive and/or Island Councils who are under criminal investigation, detained or even irrevocably convicted must step down. If Laveist chooses not to do so, the Democratic Party and the Executive Council have a big problem.
After all, governing without a majority backing is difficult at best and hardly recommendable, especially at a time when important steps need to be taken concerning the change of status, but also the current financial crisis and its impact on the local tourism economy. What is more likely to happen should Laveist keep his Island Council seat and declare himself independent is the forming of a new coalition: either the opposition party National Alliance (NA) with Laveist and/or other current members of the DP faction, or the DP with a current member or members of the NA faction.
If neither of those two is possible and Laveist’s support for the Executive Council cannot be counted on, a situation could well occur where the Island Territory is declared “ungovernable” and placed under Higher Supervision of the Antillean Government through its local representative the Lt. Governor.
Hopefully it will not come to that, also because it would almost certainly mean once again postponing the date for St. Maarten to obtain country status, with all possible consequences. If he truly has the general interest at heart, Laveist will indeed do the right thing, knowing that commissioners can always be re-appointed, as was recently the case with party colleague Buncamper-Molanus.
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