Gibbs defeated Valérie Damaseau 13 votes to 11 after trailing her by five votes in the first round. One elector abstained. Incumbent Senator Annick Pétrus did not contest the final vote.
SAINT-MARTIN:--- Daniel Gibbs won Saint-Martin’s senatorial election on Sunday, September 27, defeating Valérie Damaseau in the second round by 13 votes to 11. One of the territory’s 25 electors abstained.
The result reversed the morning’s first-round standings. Damaseau, who was backed by Territorial Council President Louis Mussington and his majority, led with 11 votes. Gibbs, an opposition politician, received six. With 13 votes required for an absolute majority, neither candidate was elected in the first round.
Six candidates had entered the election, but only Damaseau and Gibbs filed to stand in the afternoon’s second round. Incumbent Senator Annick Pétrus, territorial councilors Raphaël Sanchez and Bernadette Venthou-Dumaine, and Paris-based lawyer Tristan Choppin Haudry de Janvry did not file again.
Candidates were required to submit a new candidacy for the second round; their first-round entries did not carry over automatically. The filing window ran from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and second-round voting opened at 3:30 p.m.
Gibbs entered that vote five behind Damaseau. He gained seven votes between rounds to reach 13, while Damaseau remained at 11. Pétrus’s decision not to continue meant the incumbent senator was absent from the contest that decided her successor.
All 25 electors voted in the first round, with no blank or invalid ballots recorded. In the second round, the 24 votes cast for the two remaining candidates split 13–11, with one abstention.