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A status referendum was held on the island of Saba on 5 November 2004. [1]
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A status referendum was held on the island of Saba on 5 November 2004. [1]
After the 1994 referendum came out in favour of maintaining and restructuring the Netherlands Antilles, the government of the Netherlands Antilles tried to restructure the Netherlands Antilles and attempted to forge closer ties between the islands, as is exemplified by the adoption of an anthem of the Netherlands Antilles 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, sparked a new series of referendums across the Netherlands Antilles, however.
86.05% of the population in Saba voted for closer links to the Netherlands; remaining a part of the Netherlands Antilles got 13.18% of the vote. Independence got less than one percent of the vote.
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct constitutional ties with the Netherlands | 555 | 86.05 | |
| Remain part of the Netherlands Antilles | 85 | 13.18 | |
| Independence | 5 | 0.78 | |
| Total | 645 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 645 | 96.85 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 21 | 3.15 | |
| Total votes | 666 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 856 | 77.80 | |
| Source: Direct Democracy | |||
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although it was relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
The flag of the Netherlands Antilles was white, with a horizontal blue stripe in the center, one-third of the flag's hoist, superimposed on a vertical red stripe of the same width, also centered; six white, five-pointed stars are arranged in a pentagon pattern in the center of the blue band, their points up. It was adopted on 19 November 1959.
Saba is a Caribbean island which is the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the active volcano Mount Scenery, which at 887 metres (2,910 ft) is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands. Together with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius it forms the BES islands.
The SSS islands, locally also known as the Windward Islands, is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles. In order of population size, they are: Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba. In some contexts, the term is also used to refer to the entire island of Saint Martin, alongside Sint Eustatius and Saba.
Elections in the Netherlands Antilles were held for two territorial levels of government: the state, and the island territories.
Same-sex marriages are not performed in Aruba, Curaçao, or Sint Maarten, which are constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands were obliged after several court rulings to register any marriage registered in the Kingdom, but this primarily considers residency rights and they do not have to give same-sex marriages the same legal effect as opposite-sex marriages. As marriage in the European territory of the Netherlands, as well as in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, is open to any two people, marriages performed there have to be registered in the islands.
Scouting Antiano is the national Scouting organization of the former Netherlands Antilles. It serves 1,600 members in 25 Scout groups, 21 Scout groups on Curaçao, two on Sint Maarten, two on Bonaire, none on Saba and Sint Eustatius. Since 2016, Scouting Antiano is a full member World Organization of the Scout Movement. Until then, it was an associate member of the Interamerican Region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
Sint Maarten is a 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 41.44 km2 (16.00 sq mi), it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northern 56% of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known as simply the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with 98% of its territory and population in Western Europe and with several small West Indian island territories in the Caribbean.
General elections were held in the Netherlands Antilles on 22 January 2010. Voters elected the 22 members of the Estates, or parliament, 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 Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 October 2010. At the time of the elections, the Netherlands Antilles consisted of the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten.
The Caribbean Netherlands are the three special municipalities of the Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. They consist of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, although the term "Caribbean Netherlands" is sometimes used to refer to all of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean. In legislation, the three islands are also known as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba or the BES islands. The islands are currently classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas countries and territories of the European Union; thus, EU law does not automatically apply.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Maarten in October 1994. The referendum was the result of a discussion about the future of the Netherlands Antilles, following the secession of Aruba in 1986. While most politicians, including the government of the Netherlands Antilles and the island government campaigned in favour of secession of Sint Maarten to make it form a country of its own within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the option of retaining and restructuring the Netherlands Antilles came out in favour. This resulted in the rise of the Party for the Restructured Antilles.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Maarten on 22 June 2000.
A status referendum was held on the island of Curaçao on 8 April 2005. The option of becoming an autonomous area within the Kingdom of the Netherlands was approved by 68% of voters.
A status referendum was held on the island of Bonaire on 10 September 2004. A majority voted for integration into the Netherlands.
A status referendum was held on the island of Sint Eustatius on 8 April 2005.
The Dutch Caribbean are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-west of the Lesser Antilles archipelago.
Same-sex marriage in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba is legal following the entry into force of a law enabling same-sex couples to marry on 10 October 2012.
Island council elections were held in the Netherlands Antilles on 20 April 2007 to elect the members of the island councils of its five island territories. They were the last regular island council elections before the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010.
| Island Council | |
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| Electoral College | |
| Referendums | |
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