Public has unique opportunity
to give input on constitution
PHILIPSBURG--The people have a unique opportunity to give their input on the constitution for country St. Maarten, was the main note on which the National Alliance (NA) lecture on the draft constitution ended on Saturday.
NA party leader William Marlin said the tendency was that people waited until a situation presented itself to start a public discussion. “You are given the opportunity today, not only to give your input on the constitution, but also on other important laws,” Marlin said.
He added that time was running out and still a lot of work had to be done. “We have been governed over 50 years by the Charter. We never had this type of in-depth discussion on it.”
The public lecture in the Pasangrahan Hotel conference room, Front Street, on Saturday rounded off two days of information sessions.
Attorney Ralph Richardson said he had given many lectures before, but never had he experienced so much interaction with the persons present.
Richardson and attorney Reynold Groeneveldt went through the draft constitution chapter by chapter.
Specially invited Surinamese Attorney Sam Polanen gave backgrounds on Saturday on Suriname’s experiences with the country’s two constitutions and offered some general remarks on St. Maarten’s constitution.
Some topics discussed during the sessions were whether God should be mentioned in the constitution and participation in European elections.
Richardson explained that two persons in Aruba had won a court case stating that they should be allowed to vote in European elections and if Aruban citizens would be able to vote, the other islands would also have that possibility.
The hundreds of treaties applicable to the Netherlands Antilles were also discussed. Richardson explained that the new constitution would not interfere with the treaties.
Other topics discussed were the open border with French St. Martin, organic laws, the democratic deficit and consensus Kingdom laws.
