PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – After over a week of intense debate in the House of Parliament, on Tuesday night, the Parliament of St. Maarten voted on the draft budget by 8 votes for and 6 against.
During the budget debate, Members of Parliament posed a barrage of questions to the Council of Ministers regarding the budget. However, after responding to the many questions asked by MPs and following several adjournments, the National Ordinance establishing the 2019 budget was finally realized.
Prior to wrapping up and voting on the budget, the Council of Ministers gave a break down in expenditure per their respective Ministries.
The Country’s budget, which has a deficit of over 67 million guilders, has a projected expenditure of 478.8 million guilders. During the voting on the budget late Tuesday night and in motivating their votes, several MPs expressed discontent with the country’s 2019 financial plan, and therefore opted not to lend their support to the National Ordinance.
Meanwhile, the Minister responsible of Health, Social and Labor Affairs, the Honorable Emil Lee did not survive a motion of no confidence brought against him earlier this week; by his coalition partner in the House of Assembly the Honorable MP Dr. Luc Mercelina of the United Democrats.
At the continuation of the budget debate on Tuesday, Members of Parliament voted on the motion which resulted in 8 votes for and 7 against. Based on the outcome, it now means that the Minister will have to make his position available, as he no longer enjoys the confidence of a majority of MPs in parliament.
During the meeting, a total of four motions were presented, one of which, was also seeking the removal from office of the Minister of Finance, the Honorable Perry Geerlings.
However, he survived to fight another day, as the motion initiated by leader of the United St. Maarten Party; the Honorable Frans Richardson did not garner the support of a majority in Parliament.
In fact, 8 MPs voted against the motion and 7 opted to support the initiative to remove the Finance Minister from office.
