“Collectivity Outré Mer (COM)

Marigot: ---On February 22nd 2007 the French Senate Granted St. Martin it desires to be under a new collectivity and not under Guadeloupe. On July 1st the first territorial election was held, where five political parties contested in the election, but that first election ended in a run off, the second round of the election was held on July 8th, this time three political parties that qualified in the first round contested the elections
Winning outright is the UPP headed by Louis Contant Fleming, he managed to grab 16 of the 23 seats in the territorial council while the RRR headed by Alain Richardson grabbed 6 seats and  RSM headed by JeanLuc Hamlet got one seat.
On July 15 all 23 of the council members voted in favor of Louis Constant Fleming as President of the New Collectivity of St. Martin (COM)
On that same day the executive council was elected they are President Louis Constant Fleming, 1st Vice President Marthe Ogoundele Tessi, 2nd Vice President Daniel Gibbs, 3rd Vice President  Claire Javois-Guion Fermin, while 4th Vice Presidents is Pierre Aliotti, executive council members are Alain Richardson and Jean Luc Hamlet.
St. Martin is now be able to handle the competencies of the Regional and General Councils apart from the previous responsibilities of the commune.
Disturbing though is the European Union has declared St. Martin “No Man Land” in their view because the island had not yet decided under which umbrella it will go, will it be UPT or will it OCT is yet to be decided. Because of this St. Martin will not be receiving the European Funds for development which is in the proximity of 52 million Euros.
Come January 2008, car owners would now have to yearly car taxes to for number plates which would generate funds for running of the island. One more thing St. Martin inhabitants can expect is that they would have to start paying their taxes, something they have not done in many years.