Politics Aruba
Politics Aruba
Politics
As a Constituent Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba's politics take place within a framework of a 21-member Parliament and an eight-member Cabinet. The governor of Aruba is appointed for a six-year term by the monarch, and the prime minister and deputy prime minister are elected by the Staten (or "Parlamento") for four-year terms. The Staten is made up of 21 members elected by direct, popular vote to serve a four-year term.
Together, the State of the Netherlands, the State of the Netherlands Antilles, and the State of Aruba form a Commonwealth. As they share the same Dutch citizenship, these three countries still also share the Dutch passport as the Kingdom of the Netherlands passport. As Aruba and the Antilles have small populations, the two countries had to limit immigration. To protect their population, they have the right to control the admission of Netherlands nationals. There is the supervision of the admission and expulsion of Netherlands nationals and the setting of general conditions for the admission and expulsion of aliens.
The move toward independence
In August 1947, Aruba presented its first "Staatsreglement" ( constitution), for Aruba's "status aparte" as the status of a completely separate and autonomous state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, under the authority of the Dutch crown. This is the same as in the UK's Statute of Westminster, an equal status of the Dominion Parliaments with the British Parliament, where the Dominions were under the authority of the crown and not of the government of the UK.
In November 1955, J. Irausquin of Aruba's PPA political party spoke in front of the United Nations Trust Committee. He ended his speech saying that in the future there will be changes to come.
In 1972, at a conference in Suriname, Betico Croes (MEP) proposed a "sui-generis" Dutch Commonwealth of four states: Aruba, the Netherlands, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, each with its own nationality. Mr. C. Yarzagaray, a parliamentary member representing the AVP political party, proposed a referendum for the people of Aruba to determine Aruba's separate status or "Status Aparte" as a full autonomous state under the crown. He proclaimed: "Aruba shall never accept a federation and a second class nationality."
Betico Croes worked in Aruba to inform and prepare the people of Aruba for independence. In 1976, a committee appointed by Croes introduced the national flag and anthem as the symbols of Aruba's sovereignty and independence, and he also set 1981 as a target for Aruba's independence. In March 1977, the first Referendum for Self Determination was held with the support of the United Nations and 82% of the participants voted for independence.
The Island Government of Aruba assigned the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague to prepare a study of Aruba's independence, which was published in 1978, titled "Aruba en Onafhankelijkheid, achtergronden, modaliteiten en mogelijkheden; een rapport in eerste aanleg".
At the conference in the Hague in 1981, Aruba's independence was then set for the year 1991.
In March 1983, based on the Referendum, Aruba finally reached an official (de-colonization) agreement with the State of the Netherlands, the State of the Netherlands Antilles and the Island Governments, for Aruba's Independence, first becoming an autonomous country and member state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with its own constitution, unanimously approved and proclaimed in August 1985, and after an election held for Aruba's first parliament, Aruba officially became a member state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on January 1, 1986, with full independence set for 1996, within a Dutch Commonwealth of sovereign states. This achievement is largely due to the late Betico Croes and the political support of other nations like the USA, Panama, Venezuela and various European countries. Croes was later proclaimed "Libertador di Aruba" after his tragic death in 1986.
In 1990, movement toward independence was postponed upon the request of Aruba's Prime Minister, Nelson O. Oduber. The article scheduling Aruba’s complete independence was rescinded in 1995, although the process can begin again after a referendum.
Since January 1, 1986, the Kingdom has consisted of three completely autonomous, constitutionally equal countries: the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba.
Although the “equal status” of the countries is explicitly laid down in the preamble to the Charter, which states "..considering that they have expressed freely their will to establish a new constitutional order in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which they will conduct their internal interests autonomously and their common interests on a basis of equality, and in which they will accord each other reciprocal assistance, have resolved by mutual consent", in practice, the Netherlands has considerably more power than either the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba.