Parliamentary Elections, 3 May 2025

The Republic of Suriname held a general election on 3 May 2025 for all 51 seats of the National Assembly. Suriname uses a single, nationwide constituency via list proportional representation vote (IFES 2025). The National Assembly then elects the President to a five-year term by a two-thirds majority (Caricom, 2025).

The responsible electoral management body is the Independent Electoral Council Suriname (OKB). The OKB works together with other organizations, such as Centraal Hoofdstembureau (Central Polling Station), Centraal Bureau voor Burgerzaken (Central Bureau for Civil Affairs), and the Interior Ministry to oversee all elections within the country (OKB n.d.). 

Election day proceeded peacefully and orderly, with no reports of election-related violence before or on election day. There were, however, some incidents of election management malfunction, including isolated incidents of delayed openings of polling stations and incorrect ballots delivered or missing in several locations, requiring corrective measures. At one polling station, 13 citizens had to be contacted and invited to vote again after it was discovered that their votes were cast with ballots from the wrong district.  There were also reports of interruptions in the electricity supply affecting polling stations in two areas (OAS, 2025).

There was a lack of standardized procedures for how assistance should be provided to elderly voters and persons with disabilities, mainly due to procedural changes which were implemented shortly prior to the election and only distributed to polling station workers on election day. Additionally, more than 400 polling station members withdrew in the weeks preceding the election, leading to concerns regarding training of replacement workers, who had to rely on condensed two-day training sessions (Caricom, 2025; OAS, 2025).

Allegations of fraud and corruption were widespread throughout the campaign (Caricom, 2025; Robertson, 2025; OAS, 2025), although no formal complaints or evidence was presented (OAS, 2025). One point of criticism involved promises made by certain candidates regarding social programs and other public benefits linked to future oil and gas revenues – which were a major topic throughout the campaign – as this was perceived as potential voter influence through public resources (OAS, 2025). 

Interestingly, election campaign financing remains largely unregulated in Suriname, with no regulations covering the sources of political funding, spending limits, the use of state resources, or the disclosure of financial information by individual candidates. Although an Anti-Corruption was established in 2023, it lacks enforcement powers, and the system offers little transparency or public ability to scrutinize the financial integrity of electoral processes (OAS, 2025).Some stakeholders also noted the structural inequities in access to public resources and campaign communication platforms, jeopardizing the equality of political campaigns (OAS, 2025). Related to this, there was controversy about the increased deposit amount for party participation, which was seen as unreasonable by some, while others felt that there was a need for it (Caricom, 2025; OAS, 2025).

According to concerns expressed to the OAS Observer Mission, misinformation and fake news, including AI impersonation of candidates, were prevalent during the electoral campaign. Female candidates reported increasing online political violence, especially on social media, including sexist and insulting attacks, aimed at undermining their credibility (OAS, 2025).

Although women are still underrepresented in politics and there is no regulation on women’s political participation, there has been a slight increase in women’s political participation in the last years. At many polling stations, most members were women, contributing significantly to the electoral process (OAS, 2025). Additionally, this election resulted in the appointment of Suriname’s first-ever female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons from the National Democratic Party (Rozenblad, 2025b).

No party won the majority of seats needed to declare a clear winner, but seven of the fourteen parties which contested the elections gained seats (Caricom, 2025. The National Democratic Party then formed an alliance with five other parties, securing just enough seats in the National Assembly to secure the two-thirds majority required to choose the president (Rozenblad 2025a). Voter turnout was 69.25% (Caricom, 2025). 

Innovations

In October 2023, The Surinamese Parliament had amended the electoral law to move to the single constituency, proportional voting system for the 2025 elections, aiming to achieve a more balanced representation of persons per district (OAS, 2025). This came after the Constitutional Court ruled in August 2022 that specific provisions in the Electoral Act were contrary to the Surinamese Constitution and some international human rights treaties to which Suriname is a party (OAS, 2025). Under the prior district system, candidates in Paramaribo—then the largest constituency—needed more than 7,000 votes to be elected, whereas some smaller constituency candidates only needed 300 votes to gain a seat in Parliament. Under this system, only the major established political parties managed to gain representation, incentivizing the formation of pre-electoral alliances, which were banned in 2020 (Caribbean Times 2022). 

Three digital tools were launched for this election. Firstly, BiZa implemented the web search tool searcher "Where should I vote?" (Waar moet ik stemmen?), allowing voters to identify their corresponding polling station more easily (OAS, 2025). Second, following election errors in 2020, BiZa also created a digital platform for registering parties and candidates’ lists. The platform was successful in that it streamlined the process and minimized data entry errors, but was contested by some candidates who claimed their candidacies were not registered despite being listed on the platform by their political parties (Caricom, 2025; OAS, 2025). Third, a company was hired by BiZa to develop an application for transmitting turnout data and preliminary results through a website. However, the app was not finalized in time to conduct necessary testing before launch, causing significant instability throughout the night of the election, with long periods during which no results were updated or displayed (OAS, 2025).

Finally, the ballot boxes were substituted from metal milk cans to lightweight plastic boxes, facilitating storage and transportation. To ensure the security of these boxes, they were sealed with zip ties with serial numbers which ensured detection in case of tampering attempts (Caricom, 2025; OAS, 2025).