President of Parliament, Mr. Edgard Vrolijk, was formally served yesterday by the member of the RAIZ faction, a partner in the current MEP and RAIZ coalition, regarding the treatment of the law that allows for same-sex marriage.

Parliamentarian Raymicheline Raymond of the RAIZ faction reacted to a letter from President Vrolijk regarding the meeting that Ms. Raymond requested concerning the law on same-sex marriage.

As is known, last week President Vrolijk reacted to a previous letter from his coalition colleague, Raymond, who, together with Parliamentarian Miguel Mansur, requested a meeting on February 19th to address the aforementioned law and gave President Vrolijk 30 days to call the meeting.

Last week, on March 13th, President Vrolijk reacted but showed that things are not going the way the RAIZ parliamentarian wants them to go and that there is a whole process that has to take place. At the same time, he showed that the President of the Parliamentary Committee, Darlaine Guedez-Erasmus, who is handling this matter, will still have to call a few meetings to build a broader base of support for the aforementioned law.

An explanation from the President of Parliament that certainly did not convince anyone, and yesterday he received a strong reaction from Parliamentarian Raymond, who questioned the entire attempt to justify his colleague’s explanation of why the meeting cannot be called yet.

It has been clear for some time now that there is division between the two parties regarding this law to allow same-sex marriage and that the recent decision of the Court of Appeals has forced the government of Aruba to deal with this law and approve what the Court said has to happen.

Parliamentarian Misha questioned with good arguments all the points presented by the President of Parliament, showing that maneuvers are being made to try to prevent this issue from becoming a reality just before the election.

In her letter to President Vrolijk yesterday, the member of the RAIZ faction emphasized that both the letter from the President of Parliament dated March 19th and the letter from Darlaine Guedez-Erasmus of the committee responsible for this matter and member of the MEP faction, indicate that the public meeting requested by her and Parliamentarian Mansur, she does not have confidence that their request will be honored in the short term.

At the same time, the RIAZ parliamentarian indicated in her letter that based on the pace at which colleague Guedez-Erasmus is calling meetings of her committee, it is a clear indication that these actions are being deliberately taken to postpone the meeting on the law on same-sex marriage.

Raymond also showed in her letter that it is seen and very serious that the President of Parliament of Aruba is maneuvering to postpone the treatment of this initiative law in order to serve the interests of his party MEP, showing that this is not worthy of a President of Parliament.

She appealed to President Vrolijk to respect and honor the proper functioning of the Parliament of Aruba and emphasized that she is once again asking, for the last time, for Vrolijk to set a fixed date to address the law that allows for marriage between two people of the same sex.

Quoting the words of Parliamentarian Raymocheline Raymond:

“Given the course of the process to date, your previous commitment, the postponement actions and the extra time now offered, I consider the above a reasonable, LAST request.”