🇸🇷Suriname Election: Will a Convicted Murderer be Re-elected?
Hello! Welcome to a Friday election special edition of Inside The Newsroom where we’ll dig into the results of Suriname’s general election that took place this week. Though the country only gained its full independence from the Netherlands in 1975, Suriname has a rich and exhausting history filled with military coups and civil war. After a decade of authoritarian rule under former military strongman Desi Bouterse, it appears Suriname will finally get the fresh start it’s yearned for so long. Below is everything we need to know, but first my picks of the week. Enjoy 🤓🇸🇷
Picks of the Week
USA Travel Guide — It doesn’t look like the U.S. will be able to travel overseas safely for a while, so The Pudding put together this spectacular interactive map of 74,762 attractions to visit
Oh to be a Millennial — Another amazing set of graphics that show why millennials are the unluckiest generation in history
Soccer Is Back — The English Premier League will return on June 17 after a 100-day suspension. Rejoice!
Job Corner
I added a ton of UK-based jobs this week, with new roles at the likes of the BBC, The Athletic and The Independent. Spread the word far and wide!
Suriname 👇
New Sheriff in Town
Unlike in the U.S. and UK where we know the results of an election the night of or next day, Suriname continues the painful tradition of countries having to wait several days to declare a winner. It doesn’t help that vote counting was suspended because staff were tired, but that’s what we got ourselves into when we decided to cover every major election around the world. The results we do have suggest a political earthquake is forthcoming, as the country’s opposition Progressive Reform Party is set to win 20 seats from the 51-member parliament, and will form a coalition majority government, after 80 percent of votes were counted and released by the country’s interior ministry on Wednesday.
The ruling National Democratic Party look set to see their seat tally slashed from 26 to 16. Not only will there be a new majority formed in the National Assembly, but the results also spell the likely end of longtime ruler President Desi Bouterse, who was sentenced in November to 20 years in prison for ordering executions during his first period in power in 1982 (more on that later), and whose presidential immunity is set to expire. In the twist of all plot twists, it was Chan Santokshi, leader of the victorious Progressive Reform Party, who investigated Bouterse in his prior roles as justice minister and police chief. Unbelievable Jeff.
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Who is Chan Santokhi?
Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi is a 61-year-old former police chief who, at the age of 19, moved to the Netherlands to join the Dutch Policy Academy — Suriname was a Dutch colony until 1954. After almost three decades of service in the Surinamese Police Force, Santokhi became Suriname’s Minister of Justice and Police in 2005, until he left the post in August of 2010 when Bouterse became president. Despite losing to Bouterse in the presidential race, Santokhi was still able to get elected as a member of parliament, and has spent the past decade building enough public support to finally oust the country’s former dictator.
2020 Elections So Far
May: Burundi 🇧🇮
April: South Korea 🇰🇷
March: Israel, Slovakia + Tajikistan 🇮🇱🇸🇰🇹🇯
February: Cameroon, Ireland + Azerbaijan🇨🇲🇮🇪🇦🇿 + Iran + Togo 🇮🇷🇹🇬
Suriname’s Action-Packed History
Like with most countries around the world, Suriname’s history is steeped in Spanish, Dutch and British influence, with the latter being the first permanent European settlers in 1651. More than a decade later, the British traded their rule over Suriname to the Dutch for a small area on the U.S. East Coast called New Amsterdam. Once the British took control, they changed its name to New York City, after the Duke of York — if only I knew this on the multiple July 4ths I’ve spent in Manhattan 😒. Anyway, Suriname was given full autonomy from the Dutch in 1954, minus control over its defence and foreign affairs. In 1975, the country finally became fully independent, but more than a third of the population emigrated to the Netherlands, shaping the country we have today.
Since then, Suriname’s endured multiple military coups and a civil war. Here’s the abridged version: Five years after independence and being installed as president, Johan Ferrier’s government was ousted by the army who gave the reins to Henk Chin A Sen. Two years later, the army unleashed another coup, this time led by Lieutenant-Colonel Bouterse (remember him?), who then became embroiled in a bloody civil war with the Maroons, an ethnic group made up of descendants of slaves. The war lasted about six years and included another military coup again led by Bouterse, this time removing Ramsewak Shankar. We’re only just getting started… In 1996, Bouterse’s ally Jules Wijdenbosch was elected president, but Bouterse was widely seen as the brains and power behind the government. Three years later Bouterse was found guilty by the Dutch government of smuggling more than two tons of cocaine and sentenced to 16 years in prison, but Suriname refused to extradite him. Fast forward nine years and Bouterse returned to the headlines, this time for being tried for his involvement in the 1982 murders of his political and military opponents, but before he was convicted, Bouterse became president in 2010 and passed an amnesty law clearing him of wrongdoing. I’m exhausted.
What happens next remains unclear. A new president should be sworn in before August 13 and will require the support of two thirds of MPs to be elected, according to Al Jazeera. With Bouterse’s NDP forecast to win only 16 seats — two short from having the crucial more than a third of the votes — there’s a strong chance Suriname will have a new president and will likely mean Bouterse finally serves justice for his actions almost 40 years ago. To be continued…
This week …
… Next week …
#79 — Janelle Shane on the weirdness of artificial intelligence
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