Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 300 km (190 mi) east of Puerto Rico. The 87 square kilometres (34 sq mi) island is divided roughly 60:40 between the French Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but the Dutch part is more populated than the French part. The division dates to 1648. The northern French part comprises the Collectivity of Saint Martin and is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic. As part of France, the French part of the island is also part of the European Union. The southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten and is one of four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Sint Maarten national football team is the football team of Sint Maarten, the Dutch half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, and is controlled by the Sint Maarten Soccer Association. Sint Maarten is not a member of FIFA, and therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. However, the association applied for FIFA membership in 2016 but was rejected. In April 2022, the Sint Maarten Soccer Association appealed to the CAS against FIFA’s ruling.
Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the airport handled 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Winair and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustatius. It is named after Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who landed there while she was heir presumptive in 1944, the year after the airport opened. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches because one end of its runway is extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach. While Princess Juliana International is the primary aviation gateway to the island, there is also a smaller public-use airport on the French side, in the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, called Grand Case-Espérance Airport.
The Democratic Party Sint Maarten is a political party in Sint Maarten. The party was long associated with its powerful leader, business tycoon Claude Wathey. Wathey stepped down from his leadership post in 1992. The party was dissolved in 2017 and refounded in 2023.
The 'National Alliance' is a political alliance in Sint Maarten, formed by the Sint Maarten Patriotic Alliance and the National Progressive Party. It is one of main political parties within Sint Maarten. At the legislative elections in the Netherlands Antilles, 18 January 2002, the alliance won 4.8% of the popular vote of Sint Maarten and 1 out of 22 seats. At the elections in the Netherlands Antilles of 27 January 2006, it won one extra seat.
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 34 km2 (13 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 sport of association football in the territory of Sint Maarten is run by the Sint Maarten Soccer Association. The association administers the men's national football team, the women's national football team, and various national leagues, predominantly the Sint Maarten Senior League.
The president of the Parliament of Sint Maarten is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Sint Maarten. According to Article 8 of the Rules of Order of Parliament the president presides over the sittings of the House and enforces the rules prescribed in the Rules of Order of Parliament for the orderly conduct of parliamentary business. The president is supported by a team of vice presidents, divided into a first vice president and second vice president, who are also members of the House. In the event that the president is unable to lead a meeting the meeting is chaired by the first vice president.
The Second Marlin cabinet was the sixth Cabinet of Sint Maarten installed following the achievement of constituent country status of Sint Maarten within the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 October 2010. The cabinet was a coalition between the National Alliance, the United St. Maarten Party and the Democratic Party.
Snap general elections were held in Sint Maarten on 26 February 2018 following a no confidence vote in the Second Marlin cabinet.
Leona M. Marlin-Romeo is a Sint Maarten politician who served as Prime Minister of Sint Maarten from 2018 to 2019. She previously served as a Member of Parliament from 2014 to 2016.
Jorien Wuite is a Sint Maarten-Dutch civil servant, diplomat, and politician. Born in The Hague, she moved to Sint Maarten aged 32 to work in government. She rose to the position of Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports and served as Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten in the period 2018–19. She moved back to the European part of the Netherlands due to her election to the House of Representatives in 2021 as a member of the social liberal party Democrats 66 (D66).
Miss Sint Maarten is a national beauty pageant that selects queen from Sint Maarten representative to Miss Universe pageant between 1976 and 1982. This pageant is incorporated to Miss St. Martin who selects the winner to Miss France since 2012.
Red Cross Sint Maarten is the Red Cross national society of Sint Maarten. While technically it is an overseas branch of the Netherlands Red Cross it is registered as an independent entity under Sint Maarten law, auxiliary to the Government of Sint Maarten. Its mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it occurs, increasing the self-sufficiency of the communities of Sint Maarten, and ensuring that there is respect and willingness to help in the society. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma it played an important role in helping the affected people in the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic in French Saint Martin is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin on 1 March 2020. The island is split in a Dutch and French part, with the main airport on the Dutch side and the major harbour on the French side. The first positive test was a French couple from Saint Martin who returned from France via Saint Barthélemy on 1 March 2020. They were screened and tested positive on the airport, but are counted on the French count. The island had a population of 35,334 in 2017.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Sint Maarten, also known as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Sint Maarten, is part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten on 17 March 2020. By 15 June, all cases recovered. On 1 July, a new case had been discovered, which resolved on 3 July On 15 July, a 79th case was discovered.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Sint Eustatius is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius on 31 March 2020. On 5 May all cases recovered. The island's first COVID-19 death was recorded on 19 January 2022. The patient died at the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMCC) where they had been transported for treatment according to the press release of the St. Eustatius government.
Island Council elections were held in Sint Eustatius on 21 October 2020. Sint Eustatius is a special municipality of the Netherlands. The elections were originally to be held on 20 March 2019, but were postponed due to administrative intervention by the Dutch government. On 23 September 2019, a new election date was announced.
Rhoda Arrindell is a Sint Maartener linguist and advocate for the independence of Sint Maarten. St. Maarten is a territory of the Netherlands in the Caribbean.
Ajamu Baly is a Sint Maarten politician currently serving as the second governor of Sint Maarten since 10 October 2022.
