~ Three new candidates introduced ~
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — In front of an impressive crowd that brought MP Christophe Emmanuel to tears, the Nation Opportunity Wealth (NOW) political party held a successful congress at the Belair Community Center on Sunday evening which, according to MP Emmanuel, further energized him and his team in the lead-up to the upcoming Parliamentary elections.
An emotional Emmanuel was overwhelmed with emotion and had difficulty uttering his first few words. “You hope that people hear you, listen to you and support you and the vision for a better St. Maarten. But when you see it in numbers, it gives you further purpose, it reminds you for whom you are fighting and at least in my case it was a very emotional moment,” Emmanuel said after the congress.
The congress saw the appointment of the party board, Deputy Leader of the party and the leader of the party, all of which were appointed by acclimation. MP Emmanuel was officially appointed leader of the NOW party and MP Claudius Buncamper was appointed as Deputy Leader of the NOW.
The board of the party consists of Michael Granger, Malaika Hickinson, Christina Lake, Sasha Buncamper and Nicole James. The party board will convene soon to officially recognise the positions on the board.
The party also introduced three new candidates who will contest the elections on the slate of the NOW. They are Ryan James, Edwin Schoop and Kenneth Smith. All three received the opportunity to address the crowd and expound on why they chose the NOW and why they chose to contest the elections. All of their messages centered around one plain fact: “people have lost trust and faith in who is currently governing the island and how they are doing it.“
MP Emmanuel and Buncamper went into some of the NOW’s governing intentions and ideas, all of which will be outlined in the party’s manifesto. “The only thing my political opponents like to use is Chris is complaining. As if holding them accountable for shady governing and a scandal ridden administration isn’t the job of an MP. They use these trigger words because they think the people of St. Maarten will fall for it.
“But when we release our plans and vision for this country what will the excuse be then? This government has given the people of St. Maarten all of the reason they need to vote them out. They have targeted and destroyed St. Maarteners, made the lives of civil servants hell, taxed our seniors to death, disrespected the police, the nurses, airport workers and let cronies get away with anything they want. The people of St. Maarten have been placed at the end of the line with this government. NOW we say enough. NOW is the time to remind them that they govern at the behest of the people of St. Maarten. The NOW is ready to take on the challenge and we hope to secure the support and faith of our people,” MP Emmanuel concluded.
