PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) received a presentation from Julio Romney about a proposal for electoral reform that he believes would lead to the country having stable governments in the coming years, instead of the current situation of five Councils of Ministers in just two parliamentary terms.
The draft ordinance seeks to change the way seats in Parliament are distributed among the parties that contest the elections and would ban Members of Parliament from declaring themselves independent from the party with which they were elected.
Romney’s suggestion is built on the D’Hondt system for seat distribution. The system looks at the numbers of votes won by each party, which are divided by a series of increasing denominators.
MPs peppered Romney with questions in the meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament about how he really envisioned his suggestion working out and whether it indeed would stop the “ship jumping.”
They also asked him how the allotment of seats to parties would be compatible with the Constitution that gives MPs the right to vote their consciences rather than be tied to party loyalty.
The agenda point with Romney was suspended after MPs posed questions. He will be invited back to Parliament at a later date to give his answers. The session was cut short to allow MPs to complete other business on the agenda and to be able to attend a funeral.
MPs decided on the delegation to attend Saba Day. MPs George Pantophlet, Frans Richardson and Christophe Emmanuel will represent Parliament at the celebration on the sister Dutch island.
MPs also discussed the handling of several pending kingdom laws.
Romney presents proposal for electoral reform to MPs
