Jennifer Geerlings-Simons becomes Suriname's first woman president
Geerlings-Simons' National Democratic Party (NDP) won 18 of the 51 seats in congress, more than those of the centrist VHP party of outgoing president Chan Santokhi.
The NDP had already entered into an agreement with five other parties with which it jointly holds 34 seats in parliament.
The NDP was founded by former coup leader and autocrat-turned-elected-president Desi Bouterse, who died in hiding in December 2024.
Santokhi's party had also hoped to form a coalition to remain in power, but said in a statement that it had decided not to oppose Geerlings-Simons' election.
Suriname, a diverse country made up of descendants of people from India, Indonesia, China, the Netherlands, Indigenous groups and African slaves, marks its 50th anniversary of independence from the Dutch throne this November.
In recent years, it has looked increasingly toward China as a political ally and trading partner and, in 2019, became one of the first Latin American countries to join the Asian giant's Belt and Road infrastructure drive.
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France 24
a day ago
- France 24
'Never again': Indigenous Bolivians sour on socialism
The "Titanic," as the tallest building in the city is known, serves as the latest in a collection of uber-flamboyant neo-Andean "cholets" -- a mix of chalet and "chola" or Indigenous woman -- built by Bolivia's Aymara bourgeoisie over the past two decades. Victor Choque Flores, a self-made 46-year-old businessman, forked out millions of dollars for his "ship in a sea of bricks," as he calls his futuristic 12-story palace which looms large over El Alto's red-brick homes. "It's a bit like us," he said, adding that while rooted in the past, Indigenous Bolivians are "looking towards the future." For many Aymara, that future no longer includes the ruling socialists, who emancipated the Indigenous majority over the past two decades. For the first time since 2005, the political right is expected to triumph in presidential elections as Bolivians ditch the left over a deep economic crisis. Gratitude, frustration Nearly 20 years after one of South America's longest-serving presidents, Evo Morales, was elected on a promise of socialist revolution, the Andean country is running on empty. Widespread shortages of dollars, fuel and basic foodstuffs have left some Bolivians worse off than before he took over. Choque Flores still feels grateful to Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, for throwing open the doors of power to the country's brown-skinned majority. But El Alto, a flourishing merchant city, is also increasingly defined by its residents' desire to simply get ahead. Accusing the socialists of multiple "failures," Choque Flores said he was ready to vote for "another political direction," without revealing which candidate. Gas War cauldron The fate of Bolivia's left is inextricably linked with El Alto. Morales came to power in the wake of a bloody crackdown on a revolt in the city over gas exports, which led to over 60 deaths and the fall of a US-backed president in 2003. In the years since, Morales repeatedly dispatched his supporters down the mountain from El Alto to the seat of government in La Paz to defend his causes. But the winds of change are blowing on the streets of the Andean metropolis, where women in traditional bowler hats, flouncy "pollera" skirts and shawls hawk goods as gleaming cable cars ferry commuters overhead. Across the million-strong city, walls are covered with leading center-right presidential candidate Samuel Doria Medina's promise to restore supplies of fuel and dollars in "100 dias carajo" (100 days goddammit). In a sign of the importance of the Indigenous vote, Doria Medina, who is running neck-and-neck with right-wing ex-president Jorge Quiroga, staged his final campaign rally in El Alto on Wednesday. Jonathan Vega, a 25-year-old chef who attended the gathering, said he was counting on Doria Medina to "restore stability." A 72-year-old farmer invited to discuss the election at the local "San Gabriel" Aymara-language TV and radio station also backed change. Arcenio Julio Tancara lambasted Morales's call for voters to spoil their ballot over the refusal by authorities to allow him to run for a fourth term. "He has always called for unrest and for strikes and blockades. "At first, we understood that it might be necessary, but since we've seen that it wasn't for a cause, but simply so that he'd be named leader." 'They disinfect themselves' Morales, who is wanted on charges of trafficking a minor, has sought to galvanize his base by warning that hard-won Indigenous rights are under threat if light-skinned politicians of European heritage take over. It's a tactic that plays well with rural Aymara particularly. "We don't want to go back to the 20th century," said Matilde Choque Apaza, the leader of an Indigenous and rural women's association, who wore a colorful "aguayo" hold-all knotted around her neck. Opposition candidates, she said, "clasp (Indigenous) hands tightly" when on the campaign trail, but when they get into their cars or go home, "they disinfect themselves." She backed the appeal made by Morales for a mass campaign of spoiled ballots to sap the election of legitimacy. Polls show around 14 percent of voters are set to answer his call -- a far cry from the three outright majorities Morales secured during his 2006-2019 rule. Santos Colque Quelca, a 38-year-old presenter at San Gabriel radio, said that growing numbers of listeners were swearing "never again with Evo or (current President Luis) Arce" and were switching their support to the "least bad" opposition candidate. Pablo Mamani Ramirez, a sociologist at UMSA university in La Paz, said Morales' bid for "eternal" rule ran counter to Indigenous traditions. "The logic of the Andean world is that power is rotated."
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Bolivia presidential hopefuls make last push for votes
Two right-wing candidates are leading the race for the first time since 2005 as voters desert the ruling Movement Towards Socialism party, blamed for the country's deep economic crisis, ahead of Sunday's vote. Polls show center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga running neck-and-neck on around 20 percent each, with six other candidates trailing far behind. The two frontrunners wound up their campaigns with fanfares, street parades and packed rallies. Doria Medina, who owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise among other businesses, pledged shock therapy to pull the country back from the brink of default. Speaking in the predominantly Indigenous city of El Alto -- a longtime stronghold of leftist ex-president Evo Morales -- he vowed to restore dwindling supplies of dollars and fuel "within 100 days" through austerity measures. Jonathan Vega, a 25-year-old chef, told AFP he was counting on Doria Media to "restore stability." Bolivians are struggling through the country's worst crisis in a generation, marked by acute shortages of dollars, fuel and subsidized bread. A dramatic drop in gas exports has eaten into the country's foreign currency reserves, making it unable to import sufficient fuel for its needs. Milei-style reforms Doria Medina and Quiroga have both vowed to cut costly fuel subsidies, partly roll back Morales-era nationalizations and close loss-making public companies. Speaking in the city of La Paz, Quiroga said his first priority would be to tamp down inflation, which rose to 24.8 percent year-on-year in July, its highest level since at least 2008. The 65-year-old also threatened to close the central bank, accusing the outgoing government of using it as a "credit card," and promised to flood Bolivia's lithium-rich Andean high plains with tax-free zones to attract investment. Quiroga's vision of a "small state" has seen him compared with Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei. Alejandro Rios, a 23-year-old lawyer attending Quiroga's rally, said he believed Milei-style reforms were "the right thing for Bolivia, to get out of this crisis." The two main left-wing candidates, Senate president Andronico Rodriguez and his Movement Towards Socialism rival, former interior minister Eduardo del Castillo, are polling in the single digits. Morales, 65, has called on his supporters to avenge his disqualification by spoiling their ballots. © 2025 AFP
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Colombia buries assassinated presidential candidate
The 39-year-old conservative senator was shot in June while campaigning in the capital, Bogota, and died this week of his injuries. "Our country is going through the darkest, saddest, and most painful days," Maria Claudia Tarazona told a packed cathedral funeral service as she prepared to bury her husband. Police have blamed Uribe's murder on dissident left-wing guerrillas. For most Colombians, the assassination represented a shocking spasm of political violence after years of relative peace. Four presidential candidates were assassinated during the 1980s and 1990s, as cocaine cartels and various armed groups terrorized the country. Uribe's own mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a botched 1991 police operation to free her from cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel. On Wednesday Uribe's father, Miguel Uribe Londono, remembered the day 34 years ago when she was killed. "With all the pain in my soul, I had to tell a little boy of barely four years old the horrendous news of his mother's murder," he said at the service. "In this same holy cathedral, I carried Miguel in one arm and the coffin of his mother, Diana, in the other." "Today, 34 years later, this senseless violence also takes from me that same little boy," he said. Uribe's wife vowed that his death at the hands of a suspected 15-year-old hitman would not be in vain, and that his young son and stepdaughters would live a life filled with love. "Miguel, I will love you every day of my life until my time comes to meet you in heaven," she said. "I promise to give Alejandro and the girls a life full of love and happiness, without hatred and without resentment". Colombia will hold elections in 2026 to replace incumbent leftist leader Gustavo Petro, who is constitutionally barred from running again. Petro, himself a former guerrilla, said he chose not to attend Wednesday's funeral at the family's request. "We're not going, not because we didn't want to," he posted on social media. "We simply respect the family and we avoid the funeral of Senator Miguel Uribe from being taken over by supporters of hate". It was expected that some of those marking their respects may have booed the president, who has taken a conciliatory approach to armed groups. Former presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Cesar Gaviria attended the funeral.
