The secessionist momentum continues to grow. The latest evidence of this comes from a small Dutch island in the extreme south of the Caribbean. Curacao is just 171 square miles in size with a population of about 140,000 people. By contrast, Aiken County in South Carolina is 1,080 square miles with a population of about 160,000 people. Karen Attiah reports for the Associated Press:

A party that calls for Curacao to be completely independent of the Netherlands has topped parliamentary voting on the Dutch Caribbean island, according to results released Saturday, but it will still hold only five of 21 seats in Parliament.

The Sovereign People party led by Helman Wiels received 23 percent of the votes – 19,716 – to top the Movement for the Future of Curacao, led by former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte, which won 21 percent with 18,441 votes, and it also will have five seats.

Six other parties split the rest of the parliamentary vote on the island of about 140,000 people, so any government will have to be a coalition. That is likely to dampen Sovereign People’s efforts to win full independence even if it can form a government.

Tags: curacao, independence, netherlands, secession, separatists

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