Minister Perry Geerlings
PHILIPSBURG–Sending the electorate back to the polls to vote for a new parliament of St. Maarten for a snap election is expected to cost the country around NAf. 400,000.
In response to a question from The Daily Herald during the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday, Finance Minister Perry Geerlings said the average cost of an election is around NAf. 400,000. He said the cost to fund the upcoming snap election will come from the “miscellaneous” budget post and if the funds in this post are not sufficient, government will use funds from projects that have to be rolled out and each ministry can also share the cost.
The election has to be categorised as an “unforeseen” expense.
“When we took up office we did not foresee [that we would have an election – Ed.]. … If that is not sufficient enough, there are other budget posts of projects that we are planning to roll out that we can use from that as well. It is a shared burden and, if necessary, we can look at each ministry to contribute as well. That is how it is,” he said. “In my opinion, it has nothing to do with that we don’t have the money.
“This is something that you have to budget because this is our history and we continue to write that history; then the government has no other option than to count that into the budget of the country. That is how it is. … I would have loved to use that money for other things of course.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/91234-snap-elections-to-cost-around-naf-400-000
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