A status referendum was held on the island of

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially "Public body (Netherlands), public body") of the Netherlands. The island is in the northern Leeward Islands ...

on 8 April 2005.

Background

After the 1994 referendum came out in favour of maintaining and restructuring the

Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...

, the government of the Netherlands Antilles tried to restructure the

and attempted to forge closer ties between the islands, as is exemplified by the adoption of an

anthem of the Netherlands Antilles An anthem without a title was the untitled anthem of the Netherlands Antilles. It was written in English by Zahira Hiliman from Sint Maarten and translated into the Papiamento language by Lucille Berry-Haseth from Curaçao. The anthem was writte ...

in 2000. A new referendum on Sint Maarten, which was in favour of a separate status for Sint Maarten as a country within the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

, sparked a new series of referendums across the Netherlands Antilles, however. Sint Eustatius was the only island to again vote for retaining the Netherlands Antilles. However, since none of the other islands chose to remain part of the Netherlands Antilles, the Sint Eustatius island council opted for direct ties with the Netherlands.

Background

Result

See also