GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten – “If Antonius Adrianus Gerardus Maria “Ronald” van Raak so loves St. Maarten people, he should be on a political slate contesting the January 9, 2020 elections. Otherwise, he should mind his own business!” That was how Grisha Heyliger-Marten, UP candidate #4 and wife of suspended MP Theodore Heyliger reacted to recent statements made by the member of the Dutch Second Chamber for the Socialist Party. Van Raak had stated that “electing Grisha Heyliger Marten is the same as voting for criminal Theo Heyliger.”
“If that’s not a blatant meddling in our elections, I don’t know what is,” Grisha Heyliger-Marten said. “Can you imagine a St. Maarten politician telling the Dutch electorate in their own election that a vote for a particular Dutch politician or party is a vote for racism?” She continued: “How can Van Raak call Theo Heyliger, who has just been acquitted of all charges in one case and who is yet to face trial in another a “criminal”? So, Van Raak is now judge and jury? What more proof do we need to show that my husband is being persecuted for political reasons?”
According to Grisha Heyliger-Marten, “these are the same people who preach to us about integrity; how about the integrity of the judicial system? Isn’t an accused innocent until proven guilty? How about the integrity of our electoral process? “We’ve heard about Russian intervention, but nothing is as blatant as this Dutch intervention in our elections. No wonder they are angry that our government turned down their offer of “international observers”.
We’ve had Dutch observers before; where are their reports? What did they conclude about our elections? If the elections were “fraudulent” why were they not annulled? And by the way, if the Dutch so believe in international observers, why don’t they allow the Germans to come and observe their elections, after all, what do they have to hide?” The UP #4 candidate concluded that indeed, “a vote for Grisha is a vote for Theo is a vote for St. Maarten! Van Raak does not speak for the people of St. Maarten!”
