General elections were held in the
Territory of Curaçao on 20 December 1937. Ten of the fifteen seats in the
Estates of Curaçao
Estate or The Estate may refer to:
Law
* Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations
* Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries.
** The Estates, representat ...
were elected, with the remaining five appointed by the governor
G.J.J. Wouters. The ten elected seats consisted of six for
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
, two for
Aruba
Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...
, one for
Bonaire
Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...
and one for the
SSS Islands
The SSS islands (), locally also known as the Dutch Windward Islands ( or ), is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean (formerly the Netherlands Antilles) that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Less ...
From 1833 there was a Colonial Council ('Koloniale Raad') whose members were not elected. The council was replaced in April 1938 by the Estates of Curaçao. From a population of 90,870 (December 1936) only 2,754 men, about 3% of the population, were entitled to vote in the elections.
The new session of the Estates started on the first Tuesday of April 1938.
Curaçao
Population: 58,233 (31 December 1936)
Entitled to vote: 2,030
Valid votes: 1,549
Invalide votes: 116
Lists of candidates:
* Curaçaoan Roman Catholic Party (CRKP)
* Curaçaoan Political Union (CPU)
* CSM pilots
Aruba
Population: 21,638 (31 December 1936)
Entitled to vote: 553
Valid votes: 381
Bonaire
Population: 5,827 (31 December 1936)
Entitled to vote: 31
*
John Aniceto de Jongh (only candidate and therefore automatically elected)
SSS Islands
Entitled to vote: 140
Valid votes: 107
Appointed by the governor
*
Frederik Philip Bichon van IJsselmonde
*
Salomon Alfred Senior
*
José Maria Pedro Kroon
*
John Horris Sprockel
*
Carel Nicolaas Winkel
In 1940 Bichon van IJsselmonde was succeeded by
Frederik Augustus Vromans.
Aftermath
Although a vast majority of the population was catholic, in the last Colonial Council only 4 of the 13 members were catholic. In the new Estates 8 out of the 15 members were catholic.
Sprockel did not receive enough votes to be elected but was soon after the elections appointed by the governor to be a member of the Estates. Originally
Jossy Cohen Henriquez, speaker of the Colonial Council, was one of the members of Estates who were appointed by the governor. After S.M.L. Maduro died Cohen Henriquez succeeded him as member of the 'Raad van Bestuur' so he could no longer become a member of the Estates. A few days before the Estates started in April 1938 the governor appointed Senior instead of Cohen Henriquez. Wouters also decided Sprockel was the speaker of the parliament and Winkel the deputy speaker.
References
* Amigoe di Curaçao, 22 December 1937
* Amigoe di Curaçao, 5 January 1938
Amigoe di Curaçao, 18 November 1941
{{DEFAULTSORT:1937 Curaçao general election
Elections in the Netherlands Antilles
Curacao
December 1937 in North America