After a week and a half, the Surinamese Ministry of the Interior announced the unofficial results of the parliamentary elections. As expected, opposition party VHP of Chan Santokhi has become the largest and President Bouterse’s NDP has lost a lot. The results will be officially established in a public hearing from 22:00 CET.
The VHP gets 20 of the 51 seats. The NDP loses 10 seats and comes out at 16.
Interim results were already known, but the results of three of the 639 polling stations were still awaited. There were now four opposition parties already started with the conclusion of a coalition agreement. They hope to present that within a month.
Santokhi says he does is available for the presidency. Whether he succeeds is not yet certain. This requires a two-thirds majority in parliament. The four parties amount to 33 seats and need 34 for the presidency.
Messy
The absence of the result led to unrest in Suriname. It was feared fraud. Santokhi said a few days after the elections that the delay is partly due to the careless organization of the elections. Checking the ballot papers was chaotic and there were reports that Paramaribo had attempted to exchange ballot papers to manipulate the results.
The Independent Electoral Agency, which oversees the elections, was also frustrated with the results. Out of frustration, the agency released most of the results from Paramaribo online.
Lockdown
The results have been announced while the country is in a strict lockdown to control the corona virus. The number of patients tested positive rose from 23 to 64 in a few days.
The lockdown became proclaimed yesterday by Vice President Adhin. Surinamese must stay at home until Friday morning, June 12. Non-essential companies and schools are closed.
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