Wycliffe Smith
PHILIPSBURG–Caretaker Prime Minister Wycliffe Smith has proposed changes to the Election Ordinance and to the National Ordinance on Registration and Financing of Political Parties.
With the assistance of the Ministry of General Affairs, Smith drafted proposed changes to the two ordinances.
“I have proposed amending Article 19 by adding a Sub 2, which specifically refers to the dissolution of Parliament as mentioned in Article 59 of the Constitution and it further specifies in the National Dissolution Decree that [nomination – Ed.] of candidates would go into effect in a period between the 45th and 40th day prior to the dissolution of Parliament,” Smith said during the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday.
“Whereas the Electoral Council needs approximately six weeks prior to [nomination] to approve new political parties, I am proposing that during snap elections [elections invoked based on Article 59 of the Constitution] the Electoral Council will only need days in which to approve new political parties.”
The draft ordinance will follow the normal route of the Council of Advice, Parliament, Council of Ministers, Governor, Constitutional Court and eventually publication in the National Gazette.
“I hope that this ordinance becomes law before, God forbid, the next snap election. Regrettably, I will not be able to see this ordinance to its completion, but I hope that the law will follow its due course because it will definitely solve one of the badly needed reforms, namely the proper regulation of the time sequence related to snap elections,” Smith said.
Electoral reform has been a buzz word for years, he noted, especially around election time. “What we have been trying to do is a comprehensive approach to electoral reform whereby all changes are to be included in one attempt. It is my belief that we can also tackle electoral reform one step at a time or one article and one ordinance at a time.”
He said there has always been “the problem” of trying to hold elections and dissolve Parliament within the three months mentioned in the Constitution ever since government began to invoke Article 59 of the Constitution St. Maarten.
“The problem is that the snap elections mentioned in Article 59 of our Constitution are not reflected in the relevant ordinances such as the National Ordinance [on] Registration and Financing of Political Parties and the Election Ordinance. These ordinances only cover the regular four-year elections. As you know, this time around, the Council of Ministers presented three national decrees in an attempt to comply with the three months mentioned in the Constitution.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/92456-smith-proposes-changes-to-country-s-election-ordinance
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