Parliament is set to address the amendment to the civil code allowing same-sex marriage. The previous vote on May 8th ended in a tie, and a new session has been scheduled for this Friday, May 24th, 2024.
On May 8th, the Aruba Parliament discussed the Same-Sex Marriage Law, a session that garnered significant attention from both supporters and opponents of the law. The session ended in a tie: ten votes in favor and ten against. One parliamentarian, who was present, chose not to vote.
The parliamentarians who voted in favor of the same-sex marriage law were: Miguel Mansur (ACCION21), Misha Raymond (RAIZ), Raymond Kamperveen (RAIZ), Marisol (MAS), Aquannette Gunn (MAS), independent parliamentarian Gerlien Croes, Mervin Wyatt-Ras (AVP), Mike de Meza (AVP), Benny Sevinger (AVP), and Setty Christiaans-Yarzagaray (MEP).
Those who voted against were Arthur Dowers (AVP), Mike Eman (AVP), independent parliamentarian Ryçond Santos do Nascimento, Alvin Molina, Hendrik Tevreden, Darlaine Guedez-Erasmus, Marco Berlis, Ricky Hoek, Edgard Vrolijk, and Arthur Vallejo, all from the MEP faction. Shailiny Tromp-Lee (MEP) chose not to be present in the room and abstained from voting.
The upcoming session will be particularly interesting because Mike Eman will not be in Aruba, as he will be attending a forum in Canada. If the votes remain the same, the law will pass with ten votes in favor and nine against. However, if Shailiny Tromp-Lee votes against, the result will tie again, and the bill will be tabled, requiring a complete restart of the legislative process.
Before the previous session concluded, MEP leader Evelyn Wever-Croes stated that she would wait for the decision of the Dutch Supreme Court. It is clear that the largest parties, MEP and AVP, have significant internal resistance to approving this law. It was believed that the tie would result in waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision, thus avoiding the topic politically.
However, the Dutch Supreme Court has postponed its decision by two months, forcing Oranjestad’s politics to express their stance before the court’s ruling. Given that MEP’s coalition partner, RAIZ, supports the law change, MEP has no choice but to reconvene and see if at least one parliamentarian changes their decision to reach a conclusion.
Shailiny Tromp-Lee could make a difference as she is the only one who abstained. If she votes in favor, the law will pass. If she votes against, the law will fail. She stated that she did not vote because she had not yet made a decision. Even though the law has been in preparation for two years, she insists she is still unsure of her position.
Parliament President Edgard Vrolijk has changed his stance on this issue. Recently, he publicly stated that he would call the session after the delegation returned from the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IPKO) in the Netherlands, involving the four countries of the Dutch Kingdom: the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. But within a few days, he changed his mind and called the session immediately, in only three days!
Now, all 21 parliamentarians have three days to decide, which will undoubtedly influence their votes in the next election, either positively or negatively.
