An interesting situation is playing itself out in the Caribbean Community nation of Suriname following the May 25th general elections with widespread allegations of bribery offers to favor particular candidates for the president and vice president elections scheduled for later this month.
Leaders from the incoming six-party coalition, which won the elections, and the outgoing Hindustani VHP party, which is headed to opposition benches, say massive inducements in American dollars have been offered to incoming lawmakers, who will vote internally for the top two constitutional positions towards the end of the month.
As the situation stands now, the multiparty grouping, led by the National Democratic Party (NDP) of late former military strongman and two-time coup maker Desi Bouterse, won a bloc of 18 seats compared to 17 for the Indo-dominated VHP, leading by over 6,000 votes. Seats from the other five parties mean the coalition would have the mandatory two-thirds or 34 of the 51 parliamentary seats to form a government and keep the VHP out for the next.
But as all await the final results from the electoral commission, leaders from both camps say party representatives have been offering up to US$5 million to change sides, mainly to ensure that the VHP, with its 17 seats, gets a place at the political table. So far, the VHP will be the only party on opposition benches, but coalition leaders say serious attempts to bribe its members to vote VHP when parliament meets to elect the top two are being made.
This week, for example, Bronto Somohardjo, the leader of the Javanese-supported Pertjajah Luhur party with its two seats, says offers of bribes to form a coalition with the VHP and keep it in power abound at the moment.
“I won’t say what they offered, but you really fell off your chair,” he told local television station D-TV Express. “But now the stakes are high. Do you love your country enough, or do you love your pocket? Because amounts of 1 million dollars, 2 million dollars, 3 million dollars, 4 million dollars, and 5 million dollars are offered. But if you commit treason, people know immediately that it is you, 100,000%,” he said, confirming reports about offers to cross the floor.
Additionally, NDP leader and former assembly speaker Jennifer Simons says she is aware of inducement efforts to maintain the political status quo.
“We get a lot of news about bribery. In fact, we have information that people are being offered a lot of money. And that’s a shame because we were talking about corruption. This is a serious form of corruption when you buy people’s votes. But yes, it is said, and I don’t have it in black and white. So, we hope it is not true,” Simons said in the program Bakana Tori.
For those interested in political power and influence, much is at stake in the future as the country of about 600,000 is poised to rake in hundreds of millions in cash from oil and gas production commencing in 2028.
French oil giant Total Energies and APA Corporation of the US are leading efforts to kickstart production in three years while drilling exploratory and appraisal wells on the border with Guyana. Guyana has been producing oil since 2019 following discoveries in 2015. Whichever party or coalition group is in power when the oil begins to gush from the seabed will have large amounts of money to spend and improve life in the country.
The country is only now completing a harsh IMF slew of austerity measures that had, among other demands, restricted wage increases, tinkered with interest rates, and pushed the local dollar from under US$10-1 in 2020 to over 40-1 today, sending import prices exponentially.
Outgoing President Chan Santokhi has blamed the harshness of the fund programs for the departure of thousands of voters from the VHP, saying it was unfortunate but necessary to correct economic abnormalities from the previous government. He thinks the party lost at least three seats because of the measures and says bribery offers have also been made to his MPs to further increase the coalition’s seats.
“Members of the VHP have also been approached with financial and material offers in an attempt to buy their conscience. These actions are not only a direct attack on the integrity of parliament but also on the democratic choices of the Surinamese people. We strongly condemn these attempts and call for vigilance and transparency within all political ranks. The VHP is not a party that bows to pressure or money. We are founded on principles, on fair representation and on serving the people. Our parliamentarians stand firm. They cannot be bought – not for a position, not for a privilege, and certainly not for political manipulation.”
