What does NRC think | Political rivals in Suriname have to jump over their own shadow

ABun Wroko Mus Go Doro« The good work must continue » – that was the election slogan of the Surinamese VHP, the party of President Chan Santokhi. Whether that will work is the question. The Surinamese voters have given his progressive reform party a big slap. As it looks now, the party should even give up the first position in parliament to the great rival, the NDP, founded by the late ex-president and former army leader Bouterse.

The result is a disappointment for the sitting president, who promised to pull Suriname out of the slop when he took office after ten years of NDP regime. The Surinamese political landscape remains divided into two large blocks, with the old NPS government party and the Marron party ABOP by Ronnie Brunswijk.

Like a series of affairs, the government played bad communication, the substantially increased costs of living and a health care crisis. Santokhi praises that he has stabilized the economy of the country, with the help of the IMF. But the price was high: cuts, deleting subsidies and an inflation of fifty percent. The NDP, now led by former parliamentarian Jenny Simons, has benefited from this.

And there were scandals. Santokhi appointed his wife at the crucial state oil (in his own words because he needed someone he could blindly trust). There was noise about favoritism in tenders and about dubious issue, the latter mainly by coalition partner ABOP. In the corruption index of Transparency International in 2020, Suriname was in a sad place 94, after four years of Santokhi that was not much better with place 88 (with Kazakhstan and North Macedonia).

Yet the comparison with the earlier corruption under the NDP is crooked. The Nepotism of Santokhi, no matter how reprehensible, fades in the large -scale plundering of the state treasury by Bouterse and his confidants – for those who always hung a hint of intimidation and violence.

At the same time, these elections were a test for the new electoral system, which replaced the old district system. Every voice now counts just as heavy. It was expected that the NDP, popular in the sparsely populated interior, would come to a loss in favor of the VHP. It turned out differently, a sign how wide the displeasure is.

In addition to discomfort, there is also impatience, now that the economic opportunities for Suriname are finally turning. From 2028 the country can face dozens of billions in oil income. This raises high expectations and places a mortgage on Surinamese politics, which must prevent mismanagement and self -enrichment by an elite.

The election results do not make it easier. Arch rivals VHP and NDP seem to be convicted. With cooperation – in itself more desirable than a pandemonium by coalitions gathered with smaller parties – both should jump over long shadows. And then there is the brisant issue of the choice of a new president. The gun factor is small, partly due to the troubled history and personal relationships.

In addition, before the oil starts to flow, three years still have to be bridged. The IMF recently concluded that the Surinamese economy is now ‘stronger and resilient’, but also warned that the country ‘must (must) strengthen institutions’ quickly to mitigate the risks of corruption’. That will be the big task for every new Surinamese government.

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