I was looking into the St Maarten system earlier this week. I found that it is quite different from the system we have in Canada. The parliament is elected. The Parliament then elects the PM and cabinet. PM and Cabinet ministers can NOT be members of the parliament. The PM can submit a draft decree to the government to dissolve parliament, or the parliament can pass a decree to dissolve itself. Parliament can, as it did yesterday, vote out the cabinet (or any individual minister).

What I don't understand is why the governor just signed the decree submitted by the PM to dissolve parliament, when there appeared to be a workable majority in parliament that could have elected a new cabinet. It would seem to me that the chamber that gets voted in by the general population should supersede the cabinet. But I am not familiar enough with their system to understand all the nuances.