On Tuesday morning, an invitation was issued to continue the public meeting on the legislative initiative to allow same-sex couples to marry. The invitation, signed by Clerk Herman Hek, states that the meeting will resume this Friday, May 24th, 2024.
This represented a drastic change in position because just last week, the President of Parliament, Edgard Vrolijk, assured that there would be no time to continue the meeting before the meetings in the Netherlands. He said that after the meetings in the Netherlands, the session could continue around the second week of June. Thus, today’s invitation for a meeting in just three days came as a surprise.
It turned out that the meeting was called without even consulting with the parliamentary factions to see if they were available. As a result, they quickly discovered that Mike Eman, the leader of the AVP faction, is not even in Aruba this week. Therefore, there would be at least one less vote.
Two hours after the formal invitation was issued, an email from the President of Parliament was received in which he apologized and changed the date again to Tuesday, June 18th, 2024, at 9:00 am.
At least one parliamentarian, Miguel Mansur of Accion 21, reacted and said that now the public can see how poorly the highest body of our country, the Parliament of Aruba, is being managed. It is no wonder that Mansur announced he would present a motion against the management of the current President of Parliament, Edgard Vrolijk. He feels that Vrolijk is not fit for this role, and with this latest development, it truly shows that there are indeed some issues.
The Rules of Order of Parliament indicate that the meeting must be called within 30 days after the vote was tied. The meeting was on May 8, so it must be called before June 8. Calling it for June 18 is a failure to comply with the Rules of Order of Parliament.
