Antillean coalition government collapses

5 April 2004

AMSTERDAM — The Government in the Netherlands Antilles has collapsed, it was confirmed on Sunday.

The break up came as coalition member, the National Peoples Party (PNP), said on Sunday it was no longer willing to work with Justice Minster Ben Komproe.

The Justice Minister has been surrounded by controversy since it emerged he had allowed a convicted member of his FOL party to stay in a first-class wing of a hospital rather than be jailed.

The FOL party of Prime Minister Mirna Godett has been under pressure from four of the six opposition parties in the Antillean Parliament to remove Komproe from office.

FOL indicated at the weekend that it would try to get Komproe to step down within three days. The PNP refused to accept this and withdrew its support.

The five islands Caribbean islands of the Netherlands Antilles – Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin) – are, along with Aruba, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Subject: Dutch news + Antilles