Ivar Asjes and Dr Bernard Whiteman
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao — With elections right around the corner, the prime minister of Curacao, Ivar Asjes, resigned on Monday. He will be succeeded as head of government by Dr Bernard Whiteman.
Asjes, the fourth and longest serving prime minister of autonomous Curacao, has not yet explained the reasons for his abrupt departure but he appeared to have lost the support of his governing coalition in parliament and his political party Pueblo Soberano (PS).
Some four months ago, Caribbean News Now attempted to contact Asjes for an interview as the chief executive in the Curasaleno government and one week ago a list of 21 questions was submitted, which targeted eight principal: 1. foreign affairs; 2. social affairs; 3. the future of Curacao; 4. parliament and the constitution; 5. crime; 6. intellectual privileges; 7. health & health care; 8. communication and the Curacao media that would have been discussed in the interview.
However; while the person at the helm has changed, the questions remain the same for the new prime minister of Curacao.
Some years ago, as then president of Parliament, Asjes was voted out of power for, among other reasons, not opening certain parliamentary sessions to the public. There was a parliamentary revolt and he was voted out, but then only to be appointed as Curacao’s fourth prime minister.
History may have repeated itself, therefore, since his resignation may have been precipitated by a rebellion within the ruling parliamentary coalition.
This has led to some speculation as to whether Asjes will be on the general election ticket for his Pueblo Soberano party, or if it will move to replace him. Asjes was one of the elected officials from pre-autonomy (10-10-10) Curacao and he could run for re-election with or without Pueblo Soberano
There is also a suggestion that Asjes is being considered as the next governor general of Curacao.