Suriname - 2005 General Election
After generally free and fair elections in May 2005, the United People's Assembly reelected incumbent Ronald Venetiaan as president in August 2005.
Suriname is a constitutional democracy, with a president usually elected by a unicameral legislature. The population is approximately 493 thousand. After generally free and fair elections in May, the New Front Plus government, a coalition of nine parties, was formed. On August 3, the United People's Assembly reelected Ronald Venetiaan as president. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective con trol of the security forces.
While the government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, there were problems in some areas: police mistreatment of detainees at the time of arrest abuse of prisoners by guards overcrowded detention facilities an overwhelmed judiciary with a large case backlog lengthy pretrial detention self-censorship by some media increased corruption in the executive branch societal discrimination against women, minorities, and indigenous people violence against women trafficking in women, girls, and boys child labor in the informal sector.
The law provides citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. Elections during the year marked the third such peaceful electoral transition; however, in its 30 years of independence, the country has experienced 2 military coups, 7 years of military rule, and 1 instance in which massive public demonstrations forced an agreement to hold elections a year early.
The constitution provides for direct election by secret ballot of the 51-member National Assembly every 5 years. The National Assembly in turn elects the president by a two-thirds majority vote. If the legislature is unable to do so, the constitution provides that the United People's Assembly composed of members of parliament and elected regional and local officials shall elect the president.
In the national election held on May 25, 2005, the ruling NF coalition suffered a significant setback due to widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the economy and the public perception that the NF had produced few tangible gains. The NF won just 23 seats, falling short of a majority in the National Assembly, and immediately entered into negotiations with the Maroon-based "A" Combination and the A-1 Coalition to form a working majority.
In the 2005 campaign, the New Front coalition was formed in January and ran as a group of four parties: National Party of Suriname (NPS), United Reform Party (VHP)(another common translation of the party name is the Progressive Reform Party), Pertjajah Luhur (PL), and Surinamese Labor Party (SPA). When the coalition failed to garner a majority of National Assembly seats, the New Front combined with an additional four parties to form the current government. Three of the four were Maroon parties that ran as the A-1 Combination coalition - General Liberation and Development Party (ABOP), Union of Brotherhood and Unity in Politics (BEP), and SEEKA. The fourth party was Democratic Alternative 91 (DA91), which originally ran as a member of the Alternative Forum Coalition and, post-election (2005), abandoned its coalition members to join the "New Front Plus" ruling coalition.
Desi Bouterse's NDP more than doubled its representation in the National Assembly, winning 15 seats. Bouterse, the NDP's declared presidential candidate, withdrew from the race days before the National Assembly convened to vote for the next president and tapped his running mate, Rabin Parmessar, to run as the NDP's candidate. In the National Assembly, the NF challenged Parmessar's Surinamese citizenship, displaying copies of a Dutch passport issued to Parmessar in 2004.
Parmessar was eventually allowed to stand for election, and parliament later confirmed his Surinamese citizenship. After two votes, no candidate received the required two-thirds majority, pushing the final decision in August 2005 to a special session of the United People's Assembly, where President Venetiaan was reelected with a significant majority of votes from the local, district, and national assembly members gathered. His running mate, Ramdien Sardjoe, was elected as vice president. While the Venetiaan administration made progress in stabilizing the economy, tensions within the coalition have impeded progress and stymied legislative action.
Historical and cultural factors, such as early, arranged marriages for Hindu and Muslim women, impeded equal participation by women in leadership positions in government and political parties. In the past participation by women in politics (and other fields) £ was considered inappropriate. While women made limited gains in attaining political power in recent years, political circles remained under the influence of traditional male-dominated groups, and women were disadvantaged in seeking high public office. There were 13 women in the 51-seat National Assem bly, and the cabinet included 2 women.
Several factors traditionally limited the participation of indigenous Amerindians and Maroons—descendants of escaped slaves who fled to the interior to avoid recap ture—in the political process. Most of the country’s political activity takes place in the capital, Paramaribo, and in a narrow belt running east and west of it along the coast. The Maroons and Amerindians were concentrated in remote areas in the inte rior and therefore had limited access to, and influence on, the political process. There were three Maroon and one Amerindian political parties, and voters elected eight Maroons and one Amerindian to the National Assembly.
The Government of Suriname (GOS) continued to pursue bringing to trial those accused of the "December 8th" murders of 15 members of the political opposition and dissidents in 1982. At the center of these charges was former dictator and convicted narco-trafficker Desi Bouterse, who had also been convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for narcotics trafficking. Long-anticipated legal proceedings against those accused of participating in the December 1982 murders began in November 2007 with the issuance of summonses to 25 defendants, including opposition leader Desi Bouterse. The court martial tribunal convened on November 30, 2007, with a series of preliminary motions. The actual trial, with judges hearing witness testimonies, started on July 4, 2008.
The SPA party, which ran as a coalition partner and won two National Assembly seats in 2005, suffered from massive internal problems after its party chair, Siegfried Gilds, was convicted of money laundering in 2009. Gilds stepped down as chair, which led to a heated contest between party leaders as to who his successor would be -- a fight which ended up in court.
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