ST. EUSTATIUS–Residents of St. Eustatius will be able to elect a new Island Council on October 21, 2020, State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops said.
The state secretary is currently in Statia and announced the partial return to island democracy during a town hall meeting on Monday.
A return to full democracy is not yet possible. Knops has put together a four-stage plan under which Statians will be obtaining self-governance step by step Initially, many official powers will remain in the hands of Government Commissioner Mike Franco.
In the second phase the Island Council will obtain the power to appoint and dismiss commissioners and in the third phase they will also receive the authority to draft a budget. The Island Council will then also take up responsibility for the civil service and obtain other legal powers. An Island Governor will also be appointed in this stage.
For the time being, the government commissioners will remain in function as supervisors. Only in the fourth and final phase will the administrative intervention be fully terminated and the government commissioners dismissed.
The Dutch Government took over in Statia in February 2018, due to what it described as illegality, maladministration, discrimination and intimidation on Statia. Now, Knops says that in the meantime much has been improved.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/91171-statians-going-to-vote-on-october-21-2020
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