Oranjestad, St. Eustatius- The Progressive Labour Party has won the elections held on October 21, 2020 in St. Eustatius for a new Island Council.

The PLP won 3 seats on the Island Council, while the rival DP won 2 seats of the total 5 seats in Statia’s local parliament. The United People Coalition won no seats.

The voter turnout was relatively high, with 77% of the eligible voters casting their vote today. In total there were 2102 eligible voters on the island. A total of 1586 valid votes were cast, which means that parties needed about 317 votes to secure a seat.

While the voting process went relatively smooth, the vote counting took relatively long; just over 3 hours. Government Commissioner Marnix van Rij announced the result at 12.30 AM on October 22, 2020.

The PLP got a total of 815 votes. The DP got a total of 647 votes, while the UPC achieved a total of 124 votes. The PLP nearly doubled in the amount of votes compared to the last Island Council election (2015: 481), while the Democratic Party also grew from 473 votes in the 2015 election to 647 in 2020.

Remarkable

The win of the PLP, while not totally unexpected hearing sentiments during the campaign, is remarkable as it means that the coalition which was sent home by the Dutch intervention, returns in the same force in the new Island Council and will have, once again, a majority.

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