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The Main and Central Voting Bureau during a meeting on Friday, March 22, ascertained the final results of the March 20 elections for a new Island Council and Electoral College. This means that the elections results are now official with the Windward Islands People’s Movement (WIPM), list number 1, having won all five seats in the Island Council.
There was a very small change in the total number of votes that the WIPM received. In the final results the WIPM has 777 votes, while in the preliminary results announced Wednesday night, the night of the elections, 779 votes were counted for the WIPM. Two votes were found invalid.
The Saba Labor Party (SLP), list number 2, received 125 votes in the Island Council elections, which was not enough to obtain a seat or a residual seat (“restzetel”). List number 3, the blank list with Dave Levenstone as its sole candidate got 81 seats, also not enough for a full seat or a residual seat. The electoral quota (“kiesdeler”), the number of votes needed to secure a seat in the Island Council, was 196.6. The WIPM received three full seats and both residual seats.
Elected into the Island Council are, in alphabetical order: Carl Buncamper (number 3, 56 votes), Vito Charles (number 5, 74 votes), Eviton Heyliger (number 4, 106 votes), Rolando Wilson (number 1, 151 votes) and the biggest vote getter Bruce Zagers (number 2, 272 votes). Zagers, Wilson and Heyliger were elected with preferential votes and secured more than 50 percent of the electoral quota. Zagers was the only candidate to win a seat outright. The new Island Council will be installed next week Thursday, March 28. Usually on that same day, the commissioners will be appointed.
There were 1,078 eligible voters for the Island Council elections. In total, 983 valid votes were cast. Of these valid votes, 79.04 percent went to the WIPM, 12.72 per cent to the SLP and 8.24 percent to list number 3. Six invalid votes were counted and 4 blank votes. The voter turnout was 92.12 percent, which is slightly higher than in the 2015 elections. The final results of the 2019 Island Council elections have been made public.
Electoral College
WIPM won four seats in the Electoral College (“Kiescollege”) and the SLP one seat. The Electoral College is the body that represents Saba in electing the members for the new First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament or the Senate. Elected into the Electoral College are, in alphabetical order: Carl Buncamper (WIPM), Monique Wilson (SLP), Rolando Wilson (WIPM), Hemmie van Xanten (WIPM) and Bruce Zagers (WIPM).
Van Xanten got a seat in the Electoral College based on the number of votes he received: he secured 141 votes in the Electoral College elections and was able made to secure a seat on his own. The biggest vote getter in the Electoral College elections was Bruce Zagers with 161 votes. Only persons with the Dutch nationality could vote for Electoral College.
The electoral quota for these elections was 131.4. The WIPM received 547 votes in the Electoral College, good for four full seats. The SLP received 110 votes in the Electoral College elections and was assigned the residual seat. The threshold for the residual seat was 98,55. Monique Wilson received 75 individual votes in the Electoral College elections, more than in the Island Council election where she got 59 votes.
There were 905 eligible voters for the Electoral College elections. A total of 657 valid votes were cast. The voter turnout for these elections was 73.4 percent, which is higher than on the other two Caribbean Netherlands islands Bonaire and St. Eustatius. The official results of the Electoral College have been made public and have been sent to the Netherlands.
The Main and Central Voting Bureau found no irregularities. Chairman of the Main and Central Voting Bureau Island Governor Jonathan Johnson during the public meeting on Friday March 22 thanked the voters for coming out and making use of their democratic right to vote.
GIS Saba