(De Ware Tijd) The opposition VHP and Abop have started negotiations to form a new coalition government even as the final results of Suriname’s elections which show defeat for the incumbent Desi Bouterse are still being awaited.
The VHP which, according to the preliminary figures, has won the most parliamentary seats (20) during the elections on Monday does not want to say much at this stage of the negotiations.
“We have to wait as a party for the official election results to be declared binding. The indicative result we have at the moment gives us the opportunity to negotiate. This is part of this phase of the election process,” said Alven Roosveld, one of the three designated spokespersons of the VHP against True Time.
There are currently “scoping” talks, but with which political parties Roosveld does not want to give up. The spokesman said that what exactly will be discussed during the negotiations is still premature. As soon as the official result has been determined, the VHP will announce who will be working with and what the spearheads of the policy to be pursued will be. Any coalition partners will have to be able to identify with the election programme and the reconstruction plan of the VHP, Roosveld says.
It has been learned that three positions – the presidency, vice-presidency and presidency DNA – have already been discussed. Reportedly, the presidency and chairmanship of parliament will go to the VHP and Abop will be able to nominate a candidate vice president if it comes to an actual VHP/Abop coalition government.
According to the preliminary result, Bouterse’s NDP falls from 26 to sixteen parliamentary seats. There are at least three reasons for this, says Marten Schalkwijk of research agency Nikos: the attacks on the VHP, the arrogance of power and the bad economic policy of the NDP.
He notes that the NDP’s attacks targeted the VHP, which was taunted and labeled as an ethnic party. This has triggered the VHP to start working harder and that has not been without success. VHP Leader Chan Santokhi went on the road immediately after the 2015 elections and Schalkwijk stated that the other political parties only became visible shortly before the elections.
The NDP has also shot itself in the foot, he believes, by showing increasingly arrogant political behaviour.
“Everything became purple and that started to irritate people. They did not realize that they no longer had to run a purple campaign.”
What has convinced many voters, according to Schalkwijk, is the bad economic policy and the fact that Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad has been overlooked for too long. “In 2015, the NDP won partly due to the economy because the citizens had some money, and now the party has also lost because of the economy, because voters have nothing left in their pockets because of the financial mismanagement that has been conducted.”
Up to late yesterday afternoon Bouterse’s party had requested recounts in three constituencies.