PARAMARIBO – “I won’t be standing here with you next year”, chairman Ronald Venetiaan of the National Party Suriname (NPS) said yesterday as he laid a wreath at the statue of the late Johan Adolf Pengel to mark what would have been this former chairman’s 96th birthday. And this is not because he will be ‘carried off’ by then, but because a new NPS chairman will be elected later this year. The former President pointed out that although the process to organize the elections has met with delays, it will not be long before they will be held. ‘Renewal’ and ‘rejuvenation’ seem to be the vogue in politics, and thus within the NPS as well. Dynamic young people should get an opportunity to take over. “Let’s prove that we can match our words with deeds”. Venetian stated in September 2011 that he was quitting as party leader after eighteen years, and his wish was to hand over the party to his successor last year. The NPS was supposed to have elected a new executive board and chairman by November 2011. “The NPS’s first task is to keep the party strong on the road to change,” Venetiaan said, referring not only to the upcoming party elections, but to the fact that the party should set its sights on returning to power. Since Venetiaan has announced his intention not to return as NPS chairman, names of possible successors have been circulating, including Ronald Hooghart, John van Coblijn, Jerrel Pawiroredjo, Ruth Wijdenbosch and Gregory Rusland. Venetiaan says he has heard these rumors, but adds that candidates can only be nominated eight weeks before the elections, and will be officially known by then. Meanwhile, the party board has issued a ‘warning’ to make up for the backlog in the election’s preparations. The first quarter of 2012 has now been set aside as the time to elect branches and sub-braches and elect an executive board and chairman afterwards.
