2020 Sint Eustatius general election

Island Council elections were held in Sint Eustatius on 21 October 2020. Sint Eustatius is a special municipality (officially "public body") of the Netherlands.[4]

2020 Sint Eustatius Island Council election

21 October 2020
5 seats to the Island council
PLP DP Leader Rechelline Leerdam Adelka Spanner Party Progressive Labor Party Democratic Party Leader since 19 July 2020 13 August 2013 Last election 2 seats, 30.44% 2 seats, 29.94% Seats before 2 2 Seats won 3 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 815 647 Percentage 51.39% 40.79%
Leader of Government[1] before election Clyde van Putten[2] Progressive Labor Party Elected Leader of Government[3] TBD

The elections were originally to be held on 20 March 2019, but were postponed due to administrative intervention by the Dutch government.[5]  On 23 September 2019, a new election date was announced.[6]

Since 2015, foreign nationals also have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate if they are 18 years of age, reside lawfully on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba on the day of nomination, and have been a resident of the Netherlands or legally resided there immediately prior to that day for an uninterrupted period of at least five years.

Schedule

The timetable for these elections is as follows:[7]

Date	action
29 July 2020	Last day for batch registration
7 September 2020	Day of nomination
21 October 2020	Day of voting
23 October 2020	Announcement of the final result

Contesting parties

Party		Position	Ideology	Leader (since)	Last election	At dissolution	Contesting
	Progressive Labour Party	Centre-left		Rechelline Leerdam[8] (July 2020)	2 / 5 (40%)	2 / 5 (40%)	Yes
	Democratic Party	Centre[9]	Christian democracy	Adelka Spanner (August 2013)[10]	2 / 5 (40%)	2 / 5 (40%)	Yes
	United People's Coalition	Centre		Elvin Henriquez[11] (July 2020)[11]	1 / 5 (20%)	0 / 5 (0%)	Yes

Incumbent legislature

In the 2015 elections, the Progressive Labour Party and Democratic Party won two seats each, with the United People's Coalition taking one seat. Turnout was 65.46%, with 1,594 out of 2,135 eligible voters taking part. There were 6 blank ballots and 8 invalid ballots. The incumbent coalition was between the PLP and UPC.

Incumbent Council Members[12]

#	2015 election
	Island Council Member[13][14]		Votes
1		Clyde van Putten	251
2		Adelka Spanner	150
3		Koos Sneek	135
4		Reginald Zaandam	67
5		Astrid McKenzie-Tatem	58

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Progressive Labour Party	815	51.39	3	+1
	Democratic Party	647	40.79	2	0
	United People's Coalition	124	7.82	0	–1
Total		1,586	100.00	5
Valid votes		1,586	98.14
Invalid/blank votes		30	1.86
Total votes		1,616	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,102	76.88

References

1. "Clyde van Putten: Voter is Always Right". BES Reporter. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
2. "Clyde van Putten: Voter is Always Right". BES Reporter. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
3. "Clyde van Putten: Voter is Always Right". BES Reporter. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
4. "Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba (Law on the public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba)". Dutch Government (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 October 2010.
5. Verkiezingen St Eustatius van de baan Antilliaans Dagblad, 15 November 2018
6. "Sint-Eustatius in 2020 naar stembus, Nederlandse regering blijft voorlopig besturen". NTR Caribisch Netwerk. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
7. van Rij, Marnix (15 June 2020). "Information Bulletin of the Public Entity of St. Eustatius- Island Council Election October 21, 2020 - Publication - St. Eustatius". www.statiagovernment.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
8. "PLP (Statia) Elects Rechelline Leerdam as New Party Leader". BES Reporter. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
9. "Democratic Party of Sint Eustatius". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
10. Augustus 2013 |, 13. "Adelka Spanner nieuwe DP-leider". Caribisch Netwerk (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 September 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
11. "Elvin Henriquez to lead UPC into Upcoming Election". BES Reporter. 18 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
12. "Binder1.pdf - Mar-28-2015" (PDF). THEDAILYHERALD. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
13. "The Daily Herald -". thedailyherald.info. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
14. "Elections Concluded on Bes Islands | SXMElections.com". beta.sxmelections.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.