2015 elections in Suriname : a historical power shift

Abstract

The 2015 elections in Suriname marked a significant change since the first general and free elections in 1949. The electoral re- sults indicate a shift in both the electoral and political power that went at the cost of the traditional mono-ethnic parties. Suriname held nine elections from 1949 - 1977 and seven elections in the post military period (1987-2010). In the post military period The Front, a coalition 0f mainly traditional mono-ethnic political parties, won four of the seven elections. However, this could not prevent that their political power base as well as their electoral share eroded. The main argument in this article is that initially ethnic party affiliation resulted in electoral hegemony 0f the traditional mono-ethnic parties. This hegemony ended in 2015 when the National Democratic Party (NDP), led by the former of the military regime (1980-1987), won 26 0f the 51 parliamentary seats. In addition to the role of the changed demographic structure, the defeat of the mono-ethnic parties is explained by the strong emphasis on ethnicity and juridical- political issues after the military regime (1980-1987) while neglecting the socio-economic living conditions.