I still haven't decided who I'll be voting for in the upcoming elections, because frankly none of the candidates seem too appealing. Back in the day, my mother voted for one candidate, and one party-the DP, and Claude Wathey.
Thanks to Mr Heyliger, everything has gotten a bit more complicated.
So let's analyze the situation based on information provided mostly by the local newspapers, and gossip mongers/melee pungers.
Theo supposedly left, because of all of the inner party turmoil that allegedly started with the implosion of Louis Laveist. 
In St Maarten, nothing's that simple.
I had to do some extra reading and research to find out what was going in the local political scene.
First off, if you actually believe the carefully crafted photo-ops where all members of a party are standing around, hugging each other and smiling, you're sadly delusional, or simply have no clue about politics.
Not just St Maarten politics.
It takes a certain person, with a certain personality to become a successful politician.
We're going to exclude nepotism here, and most of the other popular St Maarten hiring practices and methods.
Politicians tend to be driven, alpha dogs.
More likely or not they tend to lean towards that narcissistic personality disorder that we hear so much about
The same disorder that caused Bill Clinton to believe that he could actually get away with being Lewinskeed in the Oval Office. It's the same personality disorder that made John Edwards believe that he could actually impregnate and promise to marry the new blonde, when his cancer stricken wife eventually died.
He then ran for the presidency, knowing that he had fathered this illegitimate child, knowing that DNA testing exists!
In St Maarten politicians are expected to have both illegitimate and outside children, but that's not the point. The point is that narcissists believe that they can do no wrong, that they never falter or have lapses in judgment.
So you should expect your politician, to have a bit of an ego, especially if you and his loyal followers do nothing but buy his every lie, as he buys enough time until the next election.

Quite a long intro for this question, but....

Why did Theo Heyliger leave the party which his grandfather created?
Everyone, it appears has their own theories as to the defection of Theo Heyliger, and whether it was a smart move or not.
I'm a politico with a very long memory. I always thought that Jimmy was  the one being groomed by Mr Wathey, since Jimmyand his grandfather were alway inseperable.
Then a lot of bad things happened, and Mr Wathey started to struggle with his health. Many, many important projects and business deals in the works, with no potential successor in site.
We have to be honest, and yes I was there, so I remembered that particular campaign, when Theo was introduced as Mr. Wathey's successor. It was pure NEPOTISM. Vulgar, overt, exposed nepotism. Actually Dr. Wathey's pictures were used on Theo's campaign posters, and he had already past away. His campaign was basically, vote for me because I'm Claude Watheys grandson, he appealed to a lot of the older Claude loyalists, and frankly to a lot of the ignorant voters on the island, who were sentimental and afraid of change.
I could be wrong here, but the only thing I remember Theo doing before being elected, was graduating from high school. If I'm wrong about that, people will let me know, and I will apologize.
So Claude past away, and Theo was propped up almost like he was the reincarnation of Mr. Wathey, the ignorant bought it and they won.
Fast forward almost twenty years, and Theo has held on to his grandfathers all the eggs in one basket strategy....tourism, tourism, tourism. God forbid anyone discusses anything else that can be done for the betterment of St Maarten, other than training our locals to cater to visitors.
But I tend to digress so I'll try to cut it short.
I believe that the intention was always to groom Theo and have him replace Sarah, and I think Sarah will have to be dragged from her position kicking and screaming, she's not gonna give it up. EVER!
So for those years, everyone knows that Theo is supposed to be taking over, but Sarah is comfortable in her warm, padded number 1 seat.
And Theo never actually made it to the number two or three on the slate, did he?
So Theo toiled at number four for many years, but like his grandfather, he managed to start many big budget, big money projects, everything was going as smoothly as it can go in any St Maarten political party, and then the feud between Buncamper and Laveist exploded to the point where someone completely snitches Laveist out to the authoritities. Turns out that he was a "corrupt" politician.
Really? A corrupt politician on this third world tropical paradise? I mean St Maarten is so corrupt, they put  Curacao in charge!
My question is, why just Laveist?
But once again I digress.
Louis went to jail, Maria of course denies any involvement. Then the word "cancer" starts to spread. Maria's a cancer to the Democratic Party. Yeah, we know that, but at this stage, the whole body is ravaged, and no one really knows where the cancer started.
So Louis was chemoed, and everything was supposed to be fine, but everyone is always angling in politics.
If I were Theo- and let me reiterate because of Dutch libel laws. If I were Theo, first of all I would have resented the fact that my grandfather gave Sarah the job, and yet she didn't even try to get me Erno or Roy's seat. Also if I were Theo, I would probably be genetically pre-dispositioned to have a lot of huge contracts, money making ventures, you know. If I were Theo I would have freaked out, at the apparent implosion of the DP, while I marinated in my number 4 seat like some glorified NBA sixth man. I would have been very afraid of disrupting or losing any or many lucrative contracts. So I would have had to make a choice, stagnating as the number four, go-to boy, would not be an option.
So Theo jumped ship, but did the DP voters and loyalists jump with him?
The question is: were these DP loyalists voting for the DP brand?  Or were they voting for the Theo/Claude brand.
I guess Theo weighed his options, and decided he was the brand, and left.
Mistake?
I think so, but that will be the fodder for another digressive rant about St Maarten politics.
In order for Theo to survive, he would need to receive more than the Wathey and Peterson vote in St Maarten. He took a calculated risk, one that many think that he will lose, but we will see.
I think it's punishment enough that he's being forced to play nice with the NA, but how soon before Theo uses William Marlins rapidly receding hairline as a launching platform to his own political aspirations, ambitions and dreams. But the bottom line is, it still won't be the party that his grandfather started, the party which started him on his own political course.
I don't believe for a second that a spat between two party members was the only catalyst in his decision to leave the DP. I mean really, you survived Michael and Julian, but you can't take some good natured mud slinging from Louis and Maria?
 If that's the reason he fled into the open arms of William Marlin, then his family invested a lot of money into propping him up as the successor for nothing.


So, yeah I'm not sure who I'll be voting for next election.
There's a lot of speculation about the open DP number 4 slot, I heard that it was a prime spot to die-or maybe even kill for.
If the only prerequisite to getting that sweet gig is to be a descendant of Claude Wathey, Ms. Wescott-Williams needs to realize that Claude Wathey had many grandchildren. You'll usually spot them around the harbors in Philipsburg and sometimes in Simpson bay. You can't miss them.
If I were her, that's where I would start.