1987 Surinamese general election

1987 Surinamese general election

25 November 1987

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

Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– VHP–NPS–KTPI Pretaap Radhakishun 85.50 40 +10 NDP Jules Wijdenbosch 9.29 3 New PALU Errol Alibux 1.69 4 +4 PL Paul Somohardjo 1.55 4 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Jules Wijdenbosch NDP Jules Wijdenbosch NDP

General elections were held in Suriname on 25 November 1987. They were the first held in the country since the first post-independence elections in 1977,^[1] and the first since a new constitution was approved in a referendum held a month earlier.

The Front for Democracy and Development, an alliance of the National Party of Suriname (NPS), the Progressive Reform Party (VHP) and the Party for National Unity and Solidarity (KTPI),^[2] won a decisive victory with 40 of the 51 seats with 86% of the vote, the largest vote share achieved by a Surinamese party or alliance since independence in 1975. The National Democratic Party, the political vehicle of Desi Bouterse, the country's de facto leader since a 1980 coup, finished a distant second with three seats. Voter turnout was 85%.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Front for Democracy and Development (VHP–NPS–KTPI)[a]	147,196	85.50	40	+10
	National Democratic Party	16,000	9.29	3	New
	Progressive Workers' and Farmers' Union	2,910	1.69	4	+4
	Surinamese Labour Party	2,704	1.57	0	New
	Pendawa Lima	2,676	1.55	4	–
	Partij Perbangunan Rakjat Suriname	664	0.39	0	New
Total		172,150	100.00	51	+12
Valid votes		172,130	97.23
Invalid/blank votes		4,895	2.77
Total votes		177,025	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		208,356	84.96
Source: Nohlen[b]

Aftermath

At its first session on 13 January 1988, the National Assembly elected the VHP's Ramsewak Shankar as president. Henck Arron of the NPS, who had led the country as Prime Minister from independence in 1975 until the 1980 coup, became vice president.^[4] Their election was assured after the Front for Democracy and Development won 78 percent of the seats at the election. This was enough for Shankar to be elected without the need for support from other blocs; the new constitution required the president to be elected by a two-thirds supermajority of the Assembly. To date, this is the only time under Suriname's present constitution that a party or alliance has won enough seats on its own to elect a president.

However, Shankar and Arron only held office for less than two years before being overthrown in 1990 in another coup engineered by Bouterse.^[5]

Notes

1. The VHP won 16 of the 40 seats, the NPS 14 and the KTPI 10.^[3]
2. There is a difference of 20 between the party totals and the reported number of valid votes.^[2]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p614 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p620
3. Nohlen, p622
4. "A Civilian President Named in Suriname To End Army Rule". The New York Times. Reuters. January 13, 1988.
5. "Suriname Coup Leaders Had Power Already". New York Times. 27 December 1990. Retrieved 23 June 2020.