Partial general elections were held in Suriname in March and April 1882 to elect three of the nine elected members of the Colonial States.
Electoral system
The Colonial States consisted of nine elected members and four appointed by the Governor-General.[1] Elected members served six-year terms, with three members elected every two years. The 1882 elections were to replace the three members elected in 1876, Phoebus Hitzerus Verbeek [nl], A.J. da Costa [nl] and Henry Barnett [nl]. Verbeek had resigned in 1880 and been replaced by Arend d'Angremond [nl].
The elections were held using the two-round system, with suffrage restricted to men meeting certain criteria. Voters had multiple votes, and any candidate receiving a number of votes equivalent to over 50% of the valid ballots cast was elected in the first round. If not all seats were filled, a second round was held with twice the number of candidates as seats remaining, who were the candidates who received the most votes but failed to be elected in the first round.
Results
As there were 145 valid ballots cast, candidates required 73 votes to be elected in the first round. Incumbent Barnett and A.H. de Granada [nl] were elected in the first round, while F.W. Westerouen van Meeteren missed out on being elected by a single vote. He and incumbent da Costa contested the second round, in which they were tied on 88 votes. Da Costa was declared elected on the basis that he was the older of the two candidates.
