MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Suriname Assembly chooses first-ever female president

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, 71, will be inaugurated on July 16

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, a 71-year-old physician and congresswoman, has been elected as Suriname's first female president by the country's National Assembly on Sunday. She ran unopposed and will be inaugurated on July 16.

“I am aware that the heavy task I have taken on is further aggravated by the fact that I am the first woman to serve the country in this position,” she said. “I come into this office to serve, and I will use all my knowledge, strength, and insight to make our wealth available to all of our people,” she added.

Her election follows a coalition agreement formed after the May parliamentary elections, which did not produce a clear winner. Geerlings-Simons' National Democratic Party secured 18 seats, while outgoing President Chandrikapersad Santokhi's Progressive Reform Party won 17, with smaller parties taking the remaining 16 seats in the indirectly elected assembly.

Geerlings-Simons and her running mate, Gregory Rusland, are tasked with stabilizing Suriname's finances. The country of over 646,000 people has faced significant economic turmoil, marked by corruption scandals during Santokhi's five-year term, which led to International Monetary Fund (IMF) intervention, debt restructuring, and reduced government subsidies. These austerity measures caused widespread protests.

The incoming administration faces the challenge of managing a financially distressed nation before the expected influx of wealth from major offshore oil discoveries, with the first production anticipated by 2028. Economists, such as Winston Ramautarsingh, warn that Suriname must repay approximately US$400 million annually in loans and interest, a sum the country currently lacks.

Geerlings-Simons has indicated plans to increase state revenues through improved tax collection, including from the small-scale gold-mining sector.

Suriname, an ethnically diverse nation with descendants of various groups including Africans, Indigenous peoples, Indians, Indonesians, Chinese, and Dutch settlers, is also looking to deepen ties with China, having joined its Belt and Road Initiative in 2019.