Marcel Gumbs


Marcel Faustiano Augustin Gumbs is a Sint Maarten politician who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of Sint Maarten from 2014 to 2015. He was selected as Prime Minister in the coalition agreement between the United People's Party and the independent Members Parliament Cornelius de Weever and Leona Marlin-Romeo. Prior to becoming Prime Minister he served as a member on the Sint Maarten Council of Advise.

Early life

Marcel Gumbs was born on 26 February 1953 on Curaçao. As a child Gumbs attended the St. Joseph School in Sint Maarten.

Political career

He began his career in 1983, as an observer in the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles for the Democratic Party. In that same year, he postulated himself for the Island Council election but did not obtain enough votes to be elected. In the 1985 parliamentary election Gumbs received 218 votes and was elected to parliament for his first term. In 1990 when DP leader Claude Wathey refused to accept his parliamentary seat, Gumbs having received the next highest votes, 419 was sworn into his second parliamentary term. For the 1994 parliamentary election, Gumbs led the DP and was elected to a third term with a career high 919 votes. After receiving 416 votes in the 1998 parliamentary election, Gumbs became a junior minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Susanne Camelia-Römer.