Latest update December 31st, 2024 3:30 AM
Latest News
Desi Bouterse elected Suriname President
Former military dictator Desi Bouterse was yesterday elected President by the country’s Parliament following weeks of jostling by opponents who sought to stop the man they saw as a convicted drug trafficker and one accused of killing political opponents.
According to Suriname’s newspaper De Ware Tijd, more than two-thirds of the votes in the National Assembly elected a new president and vice president respectively of Suriname. Bouterse and Ameerali received 36 votes.
Desi Bouterse celebrates
“That’s two more than the required 34 votes to be elected directly. There was also a blank vote,” the newspaper stated.
Reports emanating from Suriname stated that Bouterse, eyes brimming with tears, thanked supporters outside parliament after he secured 36 votes in support of his presidency. “Thanks to a small party’s decision to back me in exchange for three Cabinet positions.”
“I reach out my hand to everyone who feels that they are adversaries and ask them to leave the past behind so that we can build this country together,” Bouterse told the cheering, flag-waving crowd; the Associate Press stated.
Suriname’s President is not chosen directly by voters, but by legislators. A two-thirds majority in the 51-seat parliament is required to elect the resident of Suriname, where the official language is Dutch but where most people speak Sranan.
Bouterse’s Mega Combination faction won 23 seats in May elections.
Some Surinamese who did not support the former military dictator’s return to power said Bouterse will at least have the benefit of experience.
Others watched in dismay as Bouterse’s supporters celebrated.
Bouterse has wooed people with energetic speeches peppered with street slang that resonates with poor Surinamese, many of whom complain that economic reforms have not made a difference in their lives.
Bouterse is facing a long-delayed trial in Suriname for his role in the slaying of 15 political opponents during his regime in 1982. Some see his candidacy for president as an effort to halt the trial and push for immunity from prosecution.
In 2007, the former military dictator offered his first public apology for the 1982 killings, saying he accepted political responsibility for the deaths but denied involvement.
Bouterse first seized control of Suriname in a coup in 1980, five years after it gained independence from the Netherlands. He stepped down under international pressure in 1987, then briefly seized power again in 1990.
In 1999 a Dutch court convicted him in absentia of trafficking cocaine to the Netherlands, but he has avoided an 11-year prison term because the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
The Associated Press stated that outgoing President Ronald Venetiaan, who recently said that his party would not work with Bouterse’s faction as long as the former dictator was in control, however congratulated the new President’s coalition on the win.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Sometimes the best of leaders fail
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Jimmy Carter’s presidency fell victim to global and domestic upheavals. His single term... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
