Suriname elects country's first woman president amid economic crisis
The 71-year-old former opposition leader was left the sole candidate for president after her rivals decided on Thursday not to nominate anyone to lead the small country on South America's northern coast.
Geerlings-Simons' National Democratic Party (NDP) won 18 of the 51 seats in the National Assembly, 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 -- obtaining the two-thirds majority needed to claim the presidency.
The NDP was founded by former coup leader and autocrat-turned-elected-president Desi Bouterse, who died in hiding in December 2024.
Under his iron-fisted rule, Suriname was labeled a narco-state, with Bouterse convicted in the Netherlands for smuggling drugs.
Santokhi's party had hoped to form a coalition to remain in power, but said in a statement that it had decided not to oppose Geerlings-Simons' election.
Geerlings-Simons said she "accepted the position," in a speech to lawmakers, ahead of an inauguration due July 16.
"I am acutely aware of the responsibility that now rests on our shoulders. This responsibility is made greater by the fact that I am, in fact, the first woman to hold this office," Geerlings-Simons said.
"I will use all my knowledge, strength and insight to make our wealth available to all our fellow citizens, with special attention to our young people and those who have so far not had the opportunities to develop," she added.
01:51
Oil-rich
The former Dutch colony of 600,000 inhabitants, one of the poorest countries in South America, has been wracked by a civil war and military coups since its independence in 1975.
The government is hoping that an oil boom will follow from recently discovered offshore oil reserves.
These could bring the tiny nation, where 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, an unprecedented windfall from 2028 -- when an offshore block begins production.
During the campaign, Geerlings-Simons, former chairperson of the National Assembly, said she wanted "to be in power to ensure that the population really benefits" from the expected oil revenues.
This would involve "establishing a law that requires all companies to work with Surinamese people and buy Surinamese products."
Suriname, a diverse country made up of descendants of people from India, Indonesia, China, the Netherlands, Indigenous groups and Africans made to work as 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
a day 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
a day 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.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Peru's president signs military crimes amnesty bill into law
"Today, with the enactment of this amnesty law, the government is paying tribute to the military and self-defense groups that participated in the fight against terrorism," Boluarte said during a ceremony at the presidential palace. The law benefits uniformed personnel on trial but not yet convicted of crimes committed during fighting between state forces and the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups, in which 70,000 people were killed, according to official data. About 20,000 people remain listed as "disappeared." It also provides for the release of anyone convicted who is now over the age of 70. "This law is quite simply a betrayal of Peruvian victims," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "It undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities and weakens the country's rule of law even further." The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) had said Peru must "immediately suspend" approval of the law or -- if it was enacted -- refrain from applying it while the court looks into how the amnesty would affect victims' rights. A report by UN experts last month urged Boluarte's government to veto the law, arguing Peru "has a duty to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the conflict." The new law could affect 156 cases that have been decided and more than 600 others still underway over crimes committed during that 20-year span, those experts said. Boluarte -- whose approval rating is at an all-time low and whose term ends in July 2026 -- has rejected all criticism of the amnesty. In August 2024, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting. The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities -- including the massacre of civilians by the army -- but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024. It also helped 600 prosecuted military personnel.
