Island council (Netherlands)

An Island council (Dutch: eilandsraad) was the elected governing body of each of the former island territories of the Netherlands Antilles. The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved on October 10, 2010, resulting in Curaçao and Sint Maarten becoming constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba becoming special municipalities of the Netherlands.

Before dissolution, each island territory had its own island council, responsible for local governance and legislation within the scope of island affairs. The members of the island council were elected by the residents of the respective island. The island council elected from its members the gedeputeerden (deputies), who together with the Lieutenant Governor formed the Executive Council (Dutch: Bestuurscollege), the executive branch of the island territory.

Following the constitutional changes, the island councils were replaced by:

• Curaçao: Estates of Curaçao (Dutch: Staten van Curaçao), the parliament of the constituent country.
• Sint Maarten: Parliament of Sint Maarten (Dutch: Staten van Sint Maarten), the parliament of the constituent country.
• Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba: Island Councils (Dutch: eilandsraden), which function as municipal councils within the Dutch political system. The executive branch is formed by the Island Governor and the gedeputeerden (deputies). They are governed by Dutch law pertaining to municipalities, with specific adaptations for the Caribbean Netherlands.