Suriname Poised to Elect First Female President This Sunday
This Sunday, Suriname is likely to choose its first female president, 71-year-old congresswoman and physician Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, who faces no opposition after the ruling party declined to nominate a candidate.
Geerlings-Simons will replace current president Chandrikapersad Santokhi, 66, who has held office since 2020 and was eligible for a second term. However, his party fell short of securing the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed under the country’s indirect electoral system.
Her presidency will begin during a period of significant contrasts for the former Dutch colony. Despite gaining independence in 1975, Suriname remains one of the poorest countries in the region. Yet recent offshore oil discoveries could bring billions in revenue in the coming decades, though production is not expected to start before 2028.
Geerlings-Simons’s path to power began on 25 May, when voters elected Suriname’s 51-seat National Assembly without a clear majority. Her National Democratic Party gained a slim lead with 18 seats, one more than Santokhi’s party, which won 17. In subsequent negotiations, she formed a coalition with five other parties, securing the necessary 34 seats to become president.
Last Thursday, the deadline for presidential nominations, Santokhi’s Progressive Reform Party announced it would not field a candidate.
Geerlings-Simons’s party was established by Dési Bouterse, who governed as a dictator from 1980 to 1987, a period when his regime was accused of killing 15 political opponents in 1982. After democracy was restored, Bouterse was elected president in 2010 and again in 2015 before Santokhi took power.
Santokhi assured local media that the transfer of power would be “smooth.”
His five-year term was marred by corruption allegations, leading him to seek IMF support to stabilize the economy. Austerity policies helped restructure public debt but also sparked violent protests in the nation of 600,000 people.
During his presidency, major oil deposits were found 90 miles off Suriname’s coast. The extraction project is led by French company TotalEnergies, which pledged $10.5 billion in October to develop the field.
Santokhi even proposed a “royalties for everyone” plan, offering each citizen $750 in a savings account with a 7% annual interest rate. Despite being a key campaign promise, the proposal failed to secure his party a parliamentary majority.
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