In our democratic system, it does not really matter how many votes you get. All that really matters is your position on your party’s candidate’s list. Most of the time the political leader is the vote-getter of the party. He or she is always number one on the list. Let us say, if the leader gets enough votes for 5 seats in parliament, that means that from the candidate’s list, the first five will automatically become Members of Parliament. It is their right, even if someone lower on the list (higher number) has more votes but did not quite reach the magic number to get in parliament.

Ok, now that I have explained that. Let us get to the current topic. Former Minister of Education, Marilyn Alcala-Walle. She resigned because she became a suspect in a case against her. A complaint was filed against her because apparently, she is still attached to an organization registered at the Chamber of Commerce. This is against the screening act and the law concerning the integrity of (candidate) ministers. This means that while they hold a high public office, they are not allowed to be active in any other function. Which is understandable because it will prevent them from doing anything that could be a conflict of interest, getting them into even bigger problems. Maybe you can ask Minister Steven Martina about that.

So, she resigns to await the results of the investigation.

Recently, one of the members of her party, who also happens to be a Member of Parliament, and the President no less, dies. She is next on the list to become Member of Parliament for her party PAR. The same party that said in 2016 that they will not work with a suspect or convict, referring to former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte.

Alcala-Walle is in the same situation now as Gerrit Schotte was at that time when her party made that statement. And she has not heard yet from the Public Prosecution what will happen with her case.

So, for any normal thinking person out here, this would be a no brainer. Alcala-Walle should thank her party for the honors and let the next one on the list take the seat. But NO! She is seriously considering taking the seat and getting her party in a quite negative spotlight right now which they really do not need.

PAR and its leader Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath are under a lot of pressure right now. COVID-19 crisis, open borders again (which could lead to more corona infections), financial crisis, economy, Klesch Group, austerity measures, the Dutch government, and their demands, and a lot more to come. And now they must deal with this lady Marilyn Alcala-Walle too?

Come on Marilyn, give your party a break. Take care of your case, clean your name and if you are still interested, there will be more elections. You can always come back.

Like my good old friend Arthur Donker used to say, I keep on laughing on this little rock.