The special elections editions on the changes in the electoral regulations for the Island Council Elections on March 2nd 2011 for the Community of St. Eustatius.

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’ , ? Special edition
On Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 you will elect the members of the Island Council of the public entity where you
reside. For these Island Council elections some existing rules will be changed. It is important that you as a voter Changed electoral regulations
are aware of these changes. Below are the principal changes. This way you will know what awaits you on March
2nd. Island Council Elections
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
? ?
On January 10th, 2011, the Common Court of Justice You can vote with your voting pass and a proof of
pronounced the verdict in the case of Santana versus identification at any polling station on your island.
the executive council of Bonaire. The result of this The polling stations are open on Wednesday from 7.30
verdict is that not only the Dutch will be able to vote in am to 9.00 pm. Beware: the elections will take place
the elections of the island council on March 2nd, 2011. on a Wednesday rather than on a Friday as you were
The people with voting right for this election who on used to.
the date of the nomination (January 18th, 2011) are
inhabitants of the public entity who on the date of the
election (March 2nd, 2011) are 18 years of age or older ?
and: The voting pass is your proof of admission to the
elections. You cannot vote without a voting pass. The
have the Dutch nationality; voting pass functions both as a proof of invitation as
have the nationality of one of the country members well as an exclusive proof of your right to vote. Your allowed to vote. Voting is not possible without a proof
of the European Union; possession of this pass will be a proof for the polling of identification.
foreigners who immediately prior to the date of the station that you have not cast your vote at any other
nomination during an uninterrupted period of at voting station. You can use your voting pass to vote at
least five years resided in the (Caribbean) Nether- any polling station of your choice, provided that there
lands based on article 3 or 6 of the Law on admis- are more polling stations on your public entity. The ( )?
sion or expulsion BES or based on article 8 of the voting pass is foreseen of authenticity features and a In case you lost your voting pass, you haven’t received
Aliens act in the European part of the Netherlands. unique number. it or it is torn, you can place a request for a new voting
pass as soon as possible on your island. The latest date
For all it is required that they are not excluded of their to request a replacement for your voting pass is
voting rights. Wednesday February 16th 2011 for Saba and St.
? Eustatius and Monday February 28th 2011 for Bonaire.
The public entity derives the voting right from the
administration of the civil registry. If you are registe-
red in this register and you comply with all the
aforementioned criteria, you will automatically ?
receive convocation for the election (the voting pass). If you cannot vote on the day of the elections, you can
You may turn to civil registration office to find out let someone else vote on your behalf (give proxy). You
whether you are registered as a voter. If this is not the can do this:
case and in your opinion you do comply with afore- through a wri en proxy
mentioned criteria, then you can request a revision of through a private proxy
the registration as a voter, whereby you should hand
over proof that shows that you do comply with the Wri en proxy
requirements. You can give a wri en proxy to someone who lives on
your island, when:
To be allowed to vote, you should bring with you your you know you will not be able to vote on the
voting pass and your identification. You will not be election day;
allowed to vote without your voting pass or your you have not received your voting pass;
identification. You can use a Dutch passport, an or you do not have an identification;
identification card or a driver’s license as identifica- or your identification has expired for more than 5
tion. Your identification card may be expired for a years.
maximum of five years. Thus, it should have been valid If you want to use the wri en proxy, you will have to
till at least March 3rd 2006. In case you discover before collect a form at the civil registration office the latest
the elections that your identification card is expired Wednesday February 16th 2011. Both the signatures of
for more than five years, you can apply for a new you and the person you are authorizing to vote for you
identification card at the civil registration office. If you should be on the form.
discover on March 2nd that your identification is
expired for more than five years, you will not be

2. The public entity will verify your identity based on the ?
personal records database. Your voting pass will be ?
sent directly to your representative. You will vote on one candidate on a list of a political
party. You will find the names of the candidates on the keep your voting pass and identification at hand.
list of candidates of the political parties. The first make sure the members of the polling station can
person on the list is the party leader. The ballot sheet, see the polling booth.
on which you will cast your vote on March 2nd 2011, keep distance of the polling booth.
will be different from what you are accustomed to. It you should vote alone. You will not enter the
will be printed in black and white and there will be no polling booth with more people.
pictures of the candidates. Each party will have its own you will vote by marking the white box in front of
number. the candidate with red.
if you made a mistake, request a new ballot sheet.
you can do this only once.
EXAMPLE TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH fold your ballot sheet a er casting your vote. This
Please note that the official ballot paper, which you will be using
on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011, will be in Dutch. makes your list invisible.
deposit your ballot sheet in the ballot box.
BALLOT PAPER
for the election of the members of the island council of
Private proxy the public entity of St. Eustatius on March 2nd 2011
You can give a private proxy to another voter on your Lists Of Candidates Model J20
island, when: 1 3
?
you know you will not be able to vote on the Party A 2
Party B
Party C 4
Party C You can choose to vote blank. You do this when you
election day; choose not to mark any white box with red. The ballot
Candidate 1 Candidate 1
Candidate 1 Candidate 1
Candidate 2 Candidate 2
you have already received your voting pass; Candidate 3
Candidate 2
Candidate 3
Candidate 2
sheet will remain empty. Yet, if you choose to write or
you dispose of identification.
Candidate 3 Candidate 3
Candidate 4
Candidate 4
Candidate 4
Candidate 4
draw on the ballot sheet, your vote will be considered
You can give a private proxy by completing the form Candidate 5
Candidate 5
Candidate 5
Candidate 5
invalid instead of blank.
Candidate 6 Candidate 6
on the back of the voting pass you received and by Candidate 7
Candidate 6
Candidate 7
Candidate 6
signing it. By doing this you become the warrantor. Candidate 8
Candidate 7
Candidate 8
Candidate 7
Candidate 8 Candidate 8
The voter that will be voting for you is the representa-
-
Candidate 9 Candidate 9
Candidate 9
tive. The representative should be living on the same Candidate 10 Candidate 10
island as you do! You should give to the representative ?
your voting pass and (a copy of ) proof of your identifi- When you mark the white box in front of the candi-
cation. This is necessary; otherwise your representa- date of your choice with red, do not write anything
tive will not be allowed to cast your proxy vote for you. else on the ballot sheet.
You cast your vote by colouring one white spot red, which is positioned in front of the name of the
candidate of your choice. The ballot is folded in such a way that the list of candidates is not visible. A vote is invalid:
when you vote on another ballot sheet than the one
handed to you at the polling station.
when you do not clearly indicate who you are voting
for. (For instance because you marked more than
? one box with red, or you put only a pointer on the
In order to facilitate your voting, on March 2nd 2011, name of the candidate of your choice)
you can vote at a polling station of your choice. To
vote you should take with you your voting pass and
identification. You do not have to arrange anything to
vote at another polling station. Your voting pass will
give an indication of a polling station in your neigh- ?
borhood. In case you made your ballot sheet invalid unintentio-
nally or you made a mistake, you can request only
once, a new ballot sheet from the members of the
Important: polling station.
avoid misuse of your identification by requesting
back the copy and/or by marking it as destined to
use only for the proxy voting
the person that is voting on your behalf, can do so ?
only when he or she is casting a his/her vote You are voting on March 2nd 2011 for the members of
a representative is allowed to vote for a maximum the Island Council of your island. On Bonaire the
of two other persons Island Council has nine seats, the Island Council in St.
Eustatius and Saba has five seats. The Island Council is
Warning: the representation of the people on local level on your
only give the proxy when you are not able to vote island and functions as the general management. The
yourself Island Council controls the Executive Council. By
the Electoral Law prohibits the bribe of voters, voting, you together with other voters are determining
through gi s and promises, to give the proxy which parties will take seat in the Island Council. With
also the person who accepts bribery is prosecutable your vote you will influence the decision making of
by the Electoral Law your public entity for the coming four years.

3. Next to this information bulletin, information on the
changes is also available via:
Interview with the governor on television
www.rijksdienstcn.com/eilandsraadsverkiezingen
Newspaper advertisements
Radio spots
Television spots
Television program
Posters
Press releases
:
The proxy-holder who will cast your vote for
you, has to bring along both the proxy and a
(copy of ) your identity proof
The proxy-holder can only cast your vote at the
same moment he casts his/her own vote
A proxy-holder is allowed to vote by proxy for a
maximum of two persons
Elections
The Elections Act prohibits bribery of voters by
means of a gi or promise, in exchange of a
Change of day proxy. The person accepting the bribe is also
punishable under the Elections Act.
Change of end time
The elections are held on a Wednesday
Wednesday, March 2 , 2011 nd from 7:30 to 21:00 hrs.
Changed electoral regulations! Change of polling station
of your own choice
You may vote at a polling station of
On Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 you will elect your your own choice.
Island Council members. For these Island Council
In the interviews RCN held with the gover-
elections some existing rules have changed. Change of ballot sheet nors of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, they
Take the following changes into account, so on The ballot sheet looks different.
all called upon each voter to make use of
March 2nd, you will know what to expect. their right to vote.
YouÕll be voting too, right? Change of possibility to
grant a proxy
Governor of the public entity St. Eustatius, Mr.
You are allowed to give someone else
Gerald Berkel (le ), Governor of the public entity
For more information: a proxy, so he can vote for you. Saba, Mr. Jonathan Johnson (middle) and
www.rijksdienstcn.com/eilandsraadsverkiezingen Governor of the public entity Bonaire, Mr. Glenn
Thodé.

4. For more information specifically on the voting
process, amongst other about the voting pass, the
ballot sheet and so on, you may contact:
Public Entity of Bonaire
Civil Registry Department
Kaya Almirante Pedro Luis Brion 12
Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 717 5516/5517
Public Entity of St. Eustatius
Census Office & Civil Registry
Princess Estate
Telephone +599 318-2497
Public Entity of Saba
Census Office & Civil Registry
The Bo om
Telephone +599 416-3497
For more information specifically on the changes in
the electoral regulations, you may contact:
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Bonaire
Kaya International z/n
Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 715 8333
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland St. Eustatius
Mazinga Complex A, B
Fort Oranjestraat
Oranjestad, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 318 3370
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Saba
The Bo om, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 416 3934
Questions or comments?
information number If you have any questions or comments about
the changed electoral regulations, please contact
08008-101010
us . We are pleased to be of asistance!
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Bonaire
Kaya International z/n
Kralendijk, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 715 8333
If you are on Bonaire, St. Eustatius or Saba and have any questions regar-
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland St. Eustatius
ding the Rijksdienst Dutch Caribbean or regarding 10-10-10, you may dial Mazinga Complex A, B
Fort Oranjestraat
08008-101010. Questions are taken in Dutch, Papiamentu, English and Oranjestad, Sint-Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 318 3370
Spanish. If the staff member answering your call does not have a ready
Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland Saba
answer to your question, your call will be returned or you will receive a The Bo om, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
Telephone +599 416 3934
reply by e-mail. Calls are taken on workdays from 1.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. info@RijksdienstCN.com
www.RijksdienstCN.com
www.facebook.com/RijksdienstCaribischNederland
The website is also available in Papiamentu and English