Voters in Suriname to choose government to helm predicted oil boom
PARAMARIBO, Suriname (Reuters) -Voters in Suriname, which is on the cusp of a predicted oil boom, will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, which will later choose the South American country's next president.
The contest, marked by fraud allegations, has seen little debate about what the next government, which will hold power until 2030, should do with income from the offshore oil and gas Gran Morgu project, set to begin production in 2028.
The project, led by TotalEnergies, is Suriname's first major offshore effort. The former Dutch colony, independent since 1975, discovered reserves that may allow it to compete with neighbor Guyana - whose economy grew 43.6% last year - as a prominent producer.
The party with the most seats will lead Suriname's next government, likely through a coalition with smaller parties, but negotiations and the choosing of a new president are expected to take weeks.
Potential presidential nominees from the ruling Progressive Reform Party (VHP) include President Chan Santokhi and Defense Minister Krishna Mathoera. The National Democratic Party (NDP) - founded by former President Desi Bouterse, who died a fugitive last year - could back party head Jennifer Simons, former Vice President Ashwin Adhin or Bouterse's widow, Ingrid Bouterse.
Just under 400,000 voters, from the country's coast to its jungle hinterlands, are eligible to elect 51 national lawmakers and 784 regional representatives. Voter turnout historically hovers around 75%.
Santokhi, who led a 1,700-person bike ride in Paramaribo on Sunday after handing out orange bicycles emblazoned with "Chan" on the frame, has not ruled out cooperation with any party.
"We cannot say: Cooperate with those, don't cooperate with those," the 66-year-old Santokhi, a former police commissioner, said on television on Wednesday. "Because ultimately the people decide what those parties are going to get in votes."
COMING OIL REVENUE
Opposition NDP party leader Simons, 71, has told Dutch media she believes the government is preparing a "massive fraud" and that polling showing a potential VHP lead is part of the plot.
Simons, a doctor who served as speaker of parliament for a decade until 2020, has said NDP polling shows the party will win more than double the votes of the VHP, whose leaders have scoffed at the fraud allegations.
A poll commissioned by the Times of Suriname showed 39.4% support for the NDP and 21.5% for the VHP, while a poll by LC Media showed the VHP three seats ahead, with 17 seats.
Bouterse and the NDP dominated Surinamese politics for decades. He left office in 2020, the same year he was convicted in the 1982 murders of 15 government critics.
When the conviction was upheld in 2023, Bouterse went into hiding, dying at 79 at an unknown location on Christmas Eve.
His widow, Ingrid, 64, is on NDP's parliamentary list and active in campaigning, regularly polling her Facebook followers on whether she should serve in parliament or be president.
Parties have made general promises to improve health, education and diversify the economy, but civil society coalition the Citizens' Initiative for Participation and Good Governance (BINI) said in a Wednesday report they have failed to offer specifics about oil revenue spending.
"None of the parties has a clear and concrete plan for the revenues from the Gran Morgu project," BINI said, though it said promises may not matter much when it comes to coalition negotiations.
"It is mainly about dividing the cake - who gets which positions or ministries - not about what is best for the country," BINI said.
(Reporting by Ank Kuipers in Paramaribo; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Christian Plumb and Leslie Adler)
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