2025 Surinamese general election

2025 Surinamese general election

25 May 2025

All 51 seats in the National Assembly 26 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader Current seats VHP Chan Santokhi 20 NDP Jennifer Geerlings-Simons 16 NPS Gregory Rusland 3 ABOP Ronnie Brunswijk 8 PL Paul Somohardjo 2 BEP Ronny Asabina [nl] 2 Incumbent President Chan Santokhi VHP

General elections are set to be held in Suriname on 25 May 2025. This was made public by president Chan Santokhi in his annual speech at the National Assembly on 1 October 2024.^[1]

After his resignation in mid-October 2024 as minister of Internal Affairs, Bronto Somohardjo [nl] was succeeded one and a half months later by Delano Landvreugd [nl] as minister and Maurits Hassankhan [nl] as deputy minister. Hassankhan will have the responsibility of organizing the elections of 2025.^[2]

Electoral system

The 51 seats in the National Assembly are elected using party-list proportional representation. Previous general elections had been held using ten multi-member constituencies, but following a ruling by the Constitutional Court in 2022 that judged that it was unconstitutional, the constituencies were abolished and all 51 seats will be elected from a single nationwide constituency. This case was started by Serena Essed.^[3] The Assembly approved the new electoral system on 13 October 2023.^[4]

References

1. President Santokhi houdt laatste jaarrede, maakt datum verkiezingen bekend Suriname Herald, 1 October 2024 (in Dutch)
2. Kogel door de kerk: Delano Landvreugd wordt nieuwe Biza-minister Suriname Herald, 29 November 2024 (in Dutch)
3. Huidige zetelverdeling districten is van de baan Star Nieuws, 5 August 2022 (in Dutch)
4. Kiesstelstel gewijzigd; verkiezingen zijn weer mogelijk Star Nieuws, 13 October 2023 (in Dutch)