Letter of intent for coalition Suriname, Santokhi party excluded

In a packed room at the Marriott hotel in Paramaribo, six political parties, including the NDP led by presidential candidate Jennifer Simons, signed a letter of intent to form a new government on Tuesday evening local time. Although the official election results are still not in, and more than ninety percent of the votes have now been counted, the NDP took this leap forward in the hope of securing governing power.

According to the provisional results, the NDP has become the largest party with 18 seats, closely followed by the VHP of the current president Chan Santokhi with 17 seats. The chairmen of the political parties NPD, NPS, ABOP, PL, BEP and A-20 have now agreed that they want to work together and have unanimously supported Simons as future president, who could thus become the first female president of Suriname.

Isolated

The fact that the NDP has succeeded in binding almost all parties that have won seats to itself, shows how little support President Santokhi still has within the political field and how isolated he now actually is. Through the declaration of intent that has now been signed, the NDP can assure itself of governing power and of the presidency, because to form a government 26 seats are needed, and to be able to elect the president in parliament, a two-thirds majority of the 51 seats is needed, or 34 seats.

Added together, this coalition now has exactly the required number of seats to be able to elect the president in parliament. The fact that current vice-president Ronny Brunswijk and his ABOP also joined the group at the last moment is all the more remarkable: Brunswijk is still in a government with president Santokhi - to whom he is now turning his back. Moreover, within this new partnership there are a number of leaders who have little sympathy for Brunswijk, who is held responsible for major corruption scandals within the current Santokhi-Brunswijk government.

Negotiations

According to Jennifer Simons, in this first phase, with the signing of the declaration of intent, nothing has been agreed with the various parties on how and what their role will be within the government to be formed. Whether the declaration of intent will actually hold up will have to be seen in the coming period; a number of phases still have to be completed before there is actually a new government. Negotiations will start now on the role of the various parties within the government. It would not be the first time that an agreed coalition on paper is broken.

It is also striking that the National Party of Suriname (NPS) is also participating in this coalition. The NPS, which won six seats, previously did not want to work with the NDP. This was partly due to the fact that Desi Bouterse, the founder of the NDP who died in December, was an obstacle for the NDP.

"There is now room within our party to work together with the NDP," said NPS chairman Gregory Rusland. He was previously in the government of current President Santokhi, but left that coalition in 2023 out of dissatisfaction.

Festive

The atmosphere was festive on Tuesday evening. Champagne was poured and the hall and outside were packed with supporters of all parties. "We see a group of men at the table, and in the middle a woman, it is now time in Suriname for a female president," said Ricardo Panka, party leader of the NDP when he announced the collaboration.

The parties indicated that they have signed the declaration of intent to quickly form a coalition to tackle the problems in Suriname. The country is at a crossroads because of the large oil reserves.

"We have a rich country, we must now work together to let the people of Suriname enjoy the wealth of this country. We want honest governance, transparency and a good economic policy," said Jennifer Simons.

As things stand now, Santokhi's VHP seems to have been checkmated, and the party would be the only party in the opposition in the new parliament. Tuesday evening, there was still no reaction from President Santokhi and the VHP.