Update Country Report Curaçao 29 Mar 2017

Event

On March 24th Gilmar Pisas was sworn in as the interim prime minister of Curaçao. Mr Pisas is a member of the Movementu Futuro Kòrsou (MFK), meaning that the party of Gerrit Schotte, prime minister in 2010-12, has returned to power shortly ahead of scheduled elections on April 28th.

Analysis

Mr Pisas has managed to form a government by winning the support of 12 of Curaçao's 21 members of parliament (MPs). This alliance includes Mr Schotte's MFK, Kòrsou di Nos Tur, Movementu Progresivo, Pueblo Soberano, and two independent MPs, Gassan Dannawi and Eduard Braam.

Mr Pisas has stated that he is taking the position of interim prime minister pending the completion of the screening process of Charles Cooper, a former traffic and transport minister in the Schotte government. However, it is unclear if or when Mr Cooper's appointment may be approved, meaning that Mr Pisas could remain as prime minister until elections in April.

One of the first actions of Mr Pisas's government was to send a formal request to the Netherlands government requesting that the April elections be cancelled, as a new government has been formed. New elections were automatically triggered following the fall of the government of Hensley Koeiman (December 2016-March 2017), who had been appointed as prime minister following the October 2016 general elections. However, this alliance subsequently collapsed, paving the way for the MFK-led alliance to form a government.

Mr Schotte is the dominant figure in the new coalition, despite the fact that he holds no formal legislative role and was convicted of bribery and money laundering in 2016. He appears keen to exercise influence over the new government through the appointment of his ally Mr Cooper, although this will not be received well by the Netherlands government.

Impact on the forecast

The Netherlands has already rejected a petition to cancel the April elections, which we now expect to take place as scheduled.