Saint Martin (France)

Collectivity of Saint Martin
*Collectivité de Saint-Martin*
Collectivity of Saint Martin Collectivité de Saint-Martin
File:Flag of saint martin
Flag	Coat of arms
	Anthem: La Marseillaise;
Capital; (and largest city)	Marigot
Official languages	French
Ethnic groups	Mulatto, West African, Mestizo (French-East Asia), European, East Indian
Government
Overseas Collectivity	of France
Area
Population
HDI (2003)	n/a (unranked) (n/a)
Currency	Euro (€) (EUR)
Time zone	(UTC-4)
Internet TLD	.mf assigned but not in use, .fr and .gp in use

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"Saint-Martin" redirects here. For the island of Saint Martin on the whole, see Saint Martin.

For other uses, see Saint Martin (disambiguation).

Saint Martin (French: Saint-Martin), officially the Collectivity of Saint Martin (French: Collectivité de Saint-Martin), is an overseas collectivity of France located in the Caribbean. It came into being on February 22, 2007, encompassing the northern parts of the island of Saint Martin and neighbouring islets, the largest of which is Île Tintamarre. The southern part of the island, Sint Maarten, is part of the Netherlands Antilles.

[edit] Politics and government

Saint Martin was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas région and overseas département of France and is therefore in the European Union. In 2003 the population of the French part of the island voted in favour of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (COM) of France.^[3] On February 9, 2007, the French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and neighbouring Saint Barthélemy.^[4] The new status took effect when the law was published in the Official Journal on February 22, 2007.^[5] Saint Martin remains part of the European Union^{[citation needed]}. The Treaty of Lisbon, which is not yet legally binding, states that Saint-Martin is a part of the EU.^[6] Saint Martin is the most westerly point of the EU.

The new governance structure befitting an overseas collectivity took effect on July 15, 2007 with the first session of the Territorial Council (French: Conseil territorial) and the election of Louis-Constant Fleming as president of the Territorial Council. On July 25, 2008 Fleming resigned after being sanctioned by the Conseil d'État for one year over problems with his 2007 election campaign^[7]. On August 7, Frantz Gumbs was elected as President of the Territorial Council^[8]. However, his election was declared invalid on 10 April 2009 and Daniel Gibbs appointed as Acting President of the Territorial Council on 14 April 2009.^[9] However, Gumbs was reelected on 5 May 2009.^[10]

Before 2007, Saint Martin was coded as GP (Guadeloupe) in ISO 3166-1. In October 2007, it received the ISO 3166-1 code MF (alpha-2 code), MAF (alpha-3 code), and 663 (numeric code).^[11]

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 1 July and 8 July 2007 Saint Martin Territorial Council election results**
Parties	1st round		2nd round		Seats
Parties	Votes	%	Votes	%	Seats
Union for Progress/UMP (Union pour le Progrès, Louis Constant-Fleming)	2,829	40.35	3,753	48.96	16
Rally Responsibility Success (Rassemblement responsabilité réussite, Alain Richardson)	2,237	31.90	3,231	42.15	6
Succeed Saint Martin (Réussir Saint-Martin, Jean-Luc Hamlet)	767	10.94	681	8.89	1
Alliance (Alliance, Dominique Riboud)	635	9.05	—	—	—
Democratic Alliance for Saint Martin (Alliance démocratique pour Saint-Martin, Wendel Cocks)	544	7.76	—	—	—
Total	7,012	100.00	7,665	100.00	23
Source: RFO1, RFO2

[edit] Demographics

The French part of the island has a land area of 53.20 km² (20.5 sq mi). At the January 2006 French census, the population in the French part of the island was 35,263 (up from only 8,072 inhabitants at the 1982 census), which means a population density of 663 inhabitants per km² in 2006.

Historical population
1885	1961	1967	1974	1982	1990	1999	2006
3,400	4,502	5,061	6,191	8,072	28,518	29,078	35,263
Official figures from French censuses.

[edit] Economy

Flags flying in Marigot harbour, Saint-Martin.

The official currency of Saint Martin is the euro, though the US dollar is also widely accepted. Tourism is the main economic activity.

INSEE estimated that the total GDP of Saint Martin amounted to 421 million euros in 1999 (US$449 million at 1999 exchanges rates; US$599 million at Oct. 2007 exchange rates).^[12] In that same year the GDP per capita of Saint Martin was 14,500 euros (US$15,500 at 1999 exchanges rates; US$20,600 at Oct. 2007 exchange rates), which was 39% lower than the average GDP per capita of metropolitan France in 1999.^[12] In comparison, the GDP per capita on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maarten, was 14,430 euros in 2004.^[13]