General elections were held in 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, ...

on 17 March 1949. This was the first parliamentary election in the Netherlands Antilles after the introduction of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

. At previous elections 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. This time the elections were about 21 seats in the

Estates of the Netherlands Antilles The Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles (; ), also translated as the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles, was the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles. It comprised 22 members, elected for a four-year term in three multi-seat constituencies a ...

and no seats were appointed by the governor. The 21 elected seats consisted of eight 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 ...

, eight 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 ...

, two 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 each of the three

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 ...

Results

Curaçao

Population: 95,195 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 37,688
Valid votes: 30,700
Invalid votes: 476
Seats: 8
Average valid votes per seat: 3,837.5

Aruba

Population: 51,110 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 12,819
Valid votes: 11,107
Invalid votes: 288
Seats: 8
Average valid votes per seat: 1,388 3/8

Bonaire

Population: 4,995 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 2,224
Valid votes: 1,752
Seats: 2
Average valid votes per seat: 876

Saba

Population: 1.125 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 451
Valid votes: 385
Invalid votes: 15
Seats: 1

Sint Eustatius

Population: 921 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 347
Valid votes: 266
Invalid votes: 15
Seats: 1

Sint Maarten

Population: 1,568 (31 December 1948)
Entitled to vote: 578
Valid votes: n.a. (only one list of candidates)
Seats: 1

Aftermath

The new session of the Estates started on 18 April 1949. At this election women could not only for the first time vote for the parliament, there were also female candidates. None of them however were elected. After M.F. da Costa Gomez gave up his position in the parliament to join the 'College van Algemeen Bestuur' (CAB; early stage of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

), De Lannoy-Elisabeth succeeded him mid 1949 and became the first female member of the parliament in the Netherlands Antilles.Algemeen Handelsblad
27 May 1949 Plantz also joined the CAB and was succeeded by Buncamper. Kroon left the parliament and because Van der Meer turned down the opportunity to succeed him, Isa could become a member of the Estates. At the end of 1949 Arends was succeeded by Amelink and Plantz returned after Buncamper gave up his seat in the parliament.

References

* Amigoe di Curaçao, 2 February 1949 * Amigoe di Curaçao, 18 March 1949 * Amigoe di Curaçao, 19 March 1949
De verkiezingen in de Nederlandse Antillen
(B. de Gaay Fortman), De West-Indische gids, 1949
Onderhorigheid en separatisme
Luc Alofs, 2011 {{Netherlands Antilles elections, state=expanded Elections in the Netherlands Antilles

March 1949 in North America