SABA:--- A total of 446 valid votes were cast during the Second Chamber elections on Saba on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Raymond Knops (CDA) was the biggest vote-getter with 180 votes. The only candidate from Saba in these elections, Lysanne Charles (BIJ1) amassed 105 votes.
The elections went well. “I am content with the high turn-out,” said Chairman of the Main Voting Bureau Island Governor Jonathan Johnson. In these elections the voter turn-out was 49.6%. Saba has 907 eligible voters. The turn-out was higher compared to the last parliamentary elections in 2017 when 383 valid votes were cast, representing a voter turnout of 43.3%.
The Christian Democratic Party (CDA) secured the highest number of votes on Saba: 192 in total, of which 180 for number 5 candidate State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops. CDA candidate number 52, Koos Sneek from St. Eustatius, got 4 votes.
The BIJ1 party was the second-highest vote-getter on Saba with 113 votes in total, of which 105 were for number 13 on the slate, Lysanne Charles. Number three on Saba was the Democratic Party D66 with a total of 42 votes, of which 22 votes for number 1 on the slate, Sigrid Kaag. Number 20 on the D66 slate, Jorien Wuite from St. Maarten received 9 votes on Saba. In the 2017 Second Chamber elections, D66 received the most votes on Saba: 115.
The liberal democratic VVD party ended as number 4 on Saba with 28 votes in total. Minister of Medical Care Tamara van Ark, number 2 on the VVD slate, got 15 votes on Saba, more than party leader, and number 1 on the slate, Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The green left party GroenLinks received 19 votes on Saba, the Party for Freedom PVV got 12 votes, Forum for Democracy 9, Party for Animals PvdD 8, the Labor Party PvdA 7, the Socialist Party 5, ChristianUnion 4, Volt 3, U-Buntu Connected Front 2, JA21 1 and DENK 1.
Voters on Saba could cast their votes during three days: on Monday, March 15, Tuesday, March 16, and Wednesday, March 17. On Monday and Tuesday, people could cast their vote at the Fire Station in The Bottom and on Wednesday both in The Bottom and at the Eugenius Johnson Center in the Windwardside.
The ballots were counted at the two voting stations on Wednesday evening after the closing of the polls. Before the elections, Island Governor Johnson had encouraged people to vote because the Second Chamber takes decisions that affect the island.
