ORANJESTAD, Aruba--Prime Minister Mike Eman will formally hand over the leadership of the Aruban People’s Party, AVP, to Minister Wendrick Cicilia during the party’s congress on Sunday, October 4, marking the next stage in a leadership transition that has been developing within the party for several years.
Eman confirmed the handover during a meeting at AVP’s headquarters, saying Cicilia will assume responsibility for leading the party as AVP moves ahead with what it has described as its “Era di Relevo,” or era of succession. The congress will be held at the Aruba Marriott Resort Grand Ballroom beginning at 9:00 a.m.
The transition does not mean Eman will immediately leave his position as Prime Minister. He previously announced that he intends to conclude his tenure as Prime Minister on January 1, 2027. This means that following the October 4 congress, Cicilia is expected to lead AVP while Eman continues serving as head of government through the remainder of 2026.
No announcement connected to the October 4 congress has established who will succeed Eman as Prime Minister when he leaves the position. The transfer of AVP leadership and the eventual transition of the premiership therefore remain separate political developments.
Cicilia currently serves as Aruba’s Minister of Tourism, Transport and Labour in the AVP-FUTURO government formed in March 2025. His elevation to the leadership of AVP follows an increasingly prominent role within the party, particularly during the December 2024 parliamentary election.
Following that election, Governor Alfonso Boekhoudt formally identified Cicilia as AVP’s lijsttrekker, or lead electoral candidate, when inviting the leaders of parties that had secured parliamentary representation to consultations on the formation of a new government. AVP went on to become the largest party in the election, winning nine of the 21 seats in Parliament.
The October 4 congress therefore formalizes a transition that had already become visible during the 2024 election period. Cicilia emerged as one of the principal representatives of AVP’s younger political generation, while Eman remained a central figure within the organization and ultimately returned to the premiership when AVP and FUTURO formed the current government.
AVP has presented the upcoming congress as more than a change of party leader. The agenda also includes changes to the party’s statutes and the presentation of a new party board as the organization restructures around its next generation of leadership.
Cicilia has described the transition as one involving responsibility and continuity rather than simply replacing one individual with another. In statements ahead of the congress, he has said the next generation will be expected to build on the party’s history while addressing current challenges facing Aruba.
The October 4 handover will also bring to a close Eman’s roughly 25-year period as leader of AVP. Eman has said that leaving the leadership position, and eventually the premiership, will not mean withdrawing completely from public and community life.
He has indicated that he intends to remain involved in community service and continue supporting AVP and its future leadership after relinquishing his formal positions.
Eman first announced in June that he intended to transfer the party leadership later in 2026 and end his tenure as Prime Minister on January 1, 2027. AVP subsequently scheduled its congress for October 4, with the formal leadership transfer becoming one of the central items on the agenda.
For Cicilia, the congress represents another step in a political rise that has placed him increasingly at the center of AVP’s future. After representing the party as its lead candidate during the post-election consultations in 2024, he entered government in 2025 as Minister of Tourism, Transport and Labour and will now assume leadership of the organization itself.
The leadership change will create an unusual transitional period for Aruba during the final months of 2026, with Cicilia heading AVP while Eman remains Prime Minister.
Attention will likely turn next to how AVP and its coalition partner FUTURO approach the transition at the head of government ahead of Eman’s announced January 1 departure. For now, the October 4 congress is focused on the party itself and the formal transfer of AVP leadership from one generation to the next.
