Former Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs's party win close elections in Sint Maarten

The preliminary results of the elections on Sint Maarten on Monday, August 19, showed that seven different parties were elected to the new parliament, which has 15 members. This resulted in a very diverse outcome. Three parties won three seats each, with the National Alliance (NA) of former prime minister Silveria Jacobs receiving the most votes (2,264 votes).

Her party was followed by the URSM of current prime minister Luc Mercelina with 2,230 votes and the Democratische Partij (DP) of veteran Sarah Wescot-Williams with 2,069 votes. Former teacher Jacobs (56) was prime minister of two governments between 2019 and 2024 and was responsible for a relatively calm political landscape on the island. Everything seems set for her to be allowed to form a government once more.

NA is one of the largest parties in the country and played an important role in various governments in the last 20 years. It is a centrist party, just like the DP party founded in 1954. The DP also had a lot of government responsibility in the last decades. The URSM is mainly popular due to its leader, Mercelina, a surgeon who said he wants to make the island more resilient.

The only new party that was able to secure a seat was SAM of former parliamentarian Franklin Meyers. Olivier Arrindell's OMC party did not get enough votes for a seat. Arrindell was in the news last month because his car was shot at. His wife passed away in the attack.

Sint Maarten had called in the help of police officers from other countries in the Caribbean part of the Dutch kingdom to patrol the streets in preparation for the elections. This resulted in a noticeably high number of officers on the streets, but no significant incidents were reported.

The ballot boxes were closed at 8 p.m. (local time).In total, 60 percent of eligible voters went to vote, and 13,964 valid votes were counted. It took until 4 a.m. on Tuesday before all ballots were counted and the provisional results could be announced.