St Marteen To Vote In Independence Referendum

Tax-news.com

07 February 2000

Residents of the Netherlands Antilles island St Marteen will decide on their political future in a referendum this June. The Referendum, originally scheduled for 31 March, was approved last week by the Island Council and will present four options for the future constitutional status St Marteen:

• (1) Keep the status quo and remain part of the Netherlands Antilles;
• (2) Form part of a restructured Netherlands Antilles;
• (3) Establish St. Marteen as an 'apart status' country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
• (4) Establish St. Marteen as an independent nation.

The referendum was approved unanimously by the council in a show of bi-partisanship. The Council also decided to delay the referendum until June in order to allow more time for the public to be properly informed about the referendum and its options.

It was also unanimously agreed that the ballot paper for the referendum question would be designed to clearly indicate that the first two options meant remaining in the Netherlands Antilles and the last two options would pull the island out of the Netherlands Antilles.

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