General elections were held in the Netherlands Antilles on 22 January 2010. Voters elected the 22 members of the

Estates 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, representa ...

, or

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

, of the Netherlands Antilles. It has been the country's last general election, as the Netherlands Antilles have ceased to exist as a country within the

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on 10 October 2010. At the time of the elections, the Netherlands Antilles consisted of the

Caribbean islands Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands a ...

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC ...

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coas ...

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river) ...

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

and

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divid ...

Background

The Council of Ministers of the Netherlands Antilles announced on 16 September 2009, that it had chosen 22 January 2010 as the official date for the upcoming general election. Voter registration for the election ended in November 2009. Antillean political parties who wish to contest the election must submit their list of candidates by the first week of December 2009. There was some disagreement among politicians in the Netherlands Antilles as to the exact date of the upcoming election. Some politicians, including the Minister of Constitutional Affairs Roland Duncan, advocated an election date of 29 January 2010, instead. However, the 29 January date was ultimately rejected because the annual Tumba Festival also takes place on

on that date. Glenn Sulvaran of the Curaçao based

Party for the Restructured Antilles The Real Alternative Party ( nl, Echte Alternatieve Partij; pap, Partido Alternativa Real, PAR), formerly the Party for the Restructured Antilles ( nl, Partij voor Geherstructureerde Antillen, pap, Partido Antiá Restrukturá) until 2016, is a p ...

(PAR) argued against the original proposed 29 January date, noting that elections are not held during the

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season on

or other islands, so the general election should not conflict with the Tumba Festival. Minister of Constitutional Affairs Roland Duncan rejected that argument, noting that the festival could be rescheduled for an event as important as a general election. Duncan criticized the perception that Curaçao's interests dominated those of other islands in the Netherlands Antilles, "Sometimes I have to wonder how serious we are. This is a prime example of how much of a farce the Netherlands Antilles is. What is best for Curaçao automatically has to be best for the other islands as well." A date of 22 January 2010, was ultimately agreed upon by the Council of Ministers.

Results

On Curaçao, the PAR won the most seats, and were expected to form the next government.

References

{{Netherlands Antilles elections Elections in the Netherlands Antilles

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results