Early elections Curacao on 19 October

August 04, 2012 8:12 AM

WILLEMSTAD--The Schotte-cabinet in Curaçao resigned after MFK-fraction leader in Parliament Dean Rozier failed to reach agreement with his party, leaving the MFK/PS/MAN coalition with the backing of only nine of the 21 seats in the legislature.

Governor Frits Goedgedrag agreed to dissolve Parliament and call early elections on October 19, despite receiving a document signed by PAR (8), PNP (1), FOL (1) and independent member Eugene Cleopa (ex-MAN) stating their willingness to form a new majority of 11 seats, with Rozier likely to join later.
 
The new Parliament to be elected will take office on November 2. Candidate lists must be submitted on August 31.
 
Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte (MFK) announced the latest developments at a press conference. He said that, contrary to what others had suggested, making use of article 53 of the constitution to dissolve Parliament was the autonomous right of the local government and the governor had also recognised this. Moreover, it had already been done before on seven separate occasions in the -since dismantled- Netherlands Antilles.
 
Both he and deputy Prime Minister Charles Cooper (MAN) criticised the fact that the current three opposition parties together with at least one dissident had tried to put pressure on Goedgedrag to allow them to form a new coalition. They said the governor agreed that such a government with three or four one-seat fractions of which one or two based on "recently stolen seats" would not provide the kind of stability needed to confront the many problems the country faces.
 
While PAR as the biggest party with eight seats in Parliament had indeed been working with the others on an alternative, its political leader Emily de Jong-Elhage had also made clear they were ready to go back to the voters.
 
The current Council of Ministers now has a caretaker status and will attend only running affairs. The latter include the June 13 instruction by the Kingdom Government to balance Curaçao's budget, confirmed Schotte.
 
Outgoing Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Liesbeth Spies expects no less, she stated in an invited comment on the latest political developments in Willemstad. This entails that the 2012 deficit must be eliminated by September 1.
 
Spies also still counts on the plan of approach that Schotte and his St. Maarten counterpart Sarah Wescot-Williams were to provide for normalising the situation at the joint Central Bank before the next Kingdom Council meeting of August 24.
 
The caretaker Dutch minister confirmed that dissolving Parliament is an authority of the cabinet. She said the current situation "does not lessen the concern over the financial position of Curaçao."
 
Asked about the fact that this is already the fifth political crisis in the Kingdom after The Netherlands, Bonaire, Statia and St. Maarten since the new constitutional relations took effect on 10-10-'10, she said there are important choices to be made on issues such as public finances, with far-reaching consequences "That has an impact on politics."
 
Socialist Party (SP) Second Chamber member Ronald van Raak called the fall of the Schotte-cabinet a "blessing from the sky." Marcel van Dam of PvdA said he hoped this would give the people of Curaçao a fresh start with a new government to provide for economic growth, jobs and wellbeing.
 
Schotte was asked if MFK would again work with "Pueblo Soberano" (PS) after the election, considering that both Cleopa and Rozier had mentioned the attitude of PS-leader Helmin Wiels as one of the main reasons for breaking up the coalition. He said that once the people had spoken all options would be on the table. PS-Minister of Justice Elmer "Kade" Wilsoe added that it was easy to find a scapegoat, but that the two men should have given their respective parties back the seats they had not earned with preferential votes.
 
The young prime minister also said that taking into account all the tough decisions still to be made in the coming months, he would suggest a national accord backed by all 21 Members of Parliament to introduce the necessary "and long overdue" reforms.
 
The PAR-fraction in Parliament had already requested a public meeting for Monday to gain clarity on the status of the Schotte cabinet. With Chairman Ivar Asjes (PS) still abroad on vacation, acting Chairman Amerigo Thodé (MFK) was not likely to convene such under the circumstances.