The

Collectivity of Saint Martin The Collectivity of Saint Martin (french: Collectivité de Saint-Martin), commonly known as simply Saint Martin (, ), is an overseas collectivity of France in the West Indies in the Caribbean, on – but not identical with – the island of S ...

was a French

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

for many years and formed part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas ''région'' and ''département'' of France and is therefore in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. In 2003, the population of the French part of the island voted in favour of

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate

overseas collectivity The French overseas collectivities (''collectivité d'outre-mer'' or ''COM'') are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies ...

(COM) of France. On 9 February 2007, the

French Parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris ...

passed a bill granting COM status to both the French part of Saint Martin and neighbouring

Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in English ...

. The new status took effect once the local assembly was elected on 15 February 2007. Saint Martin remains part of the

. The new governance structure befitting an overseas collectivity took effect on 15 July 2007 with the first session of the Territorial Council (french: Conseil territorial) and the election of

Louis-Constant Fleming Louis-Constant Fleming (born 1 December 1946) is a member of the Senate of France, representing the island of Saint-Martin. He was born on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maarten, where he attended primary school. He later left the island and ...

as president of the Territorial Council. On 25 July 2008 Fleming resigned after being sanctioned by the Conseil d'État for one year over problems with his 2007 election campaign. On 7 August, Frantz Gumbs was elected as President of the Territorial Council. However, his election was declared invalid on 10 April 2009 and

Daniel Gibbs Daniel Gibbs (born 8 January 1968 in Saint-Martin) is a French Saint-Martinois politician. Political career In 2011, he founded Union for Democracy. He was elected MP to the French National Assembly on 17 June 2012 representing the cons ...

appointed as Acting President of the Territorial Council on 14 April 2009. However, Gumbs was reelected on 5 May 2009. There currently exists a movement in Saint Martin for achieving a political unification of the island.

References

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