PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC—The Progressive Workers and Farmers Union (PALU) calls for a change in its leadership, saying it must be done “urgently and radically.”
“The current President (Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi) never came to improve the lives of the Surinamese. To make the country a better country than what he found. He has completely fooled us in that respect,” PALU chairman Jom Hok told a news conference.
“He said that the PALU will contest the May 2025 general election as an independent organization and would seek “a strong enough mandate to work with everyone. “
Hok told reporters that no party has succeeded in achieving Suriname’s prosperity and well-being.
“We have all failed, all the political parties that have been given responsibility since 1975 or not. So, we have failed together in that respect. But what the current government has achieved in four years and continues to do every day beats everything.
“The government has…to get a grip on our development,” Hook told reporters, adding, “The current government has thrown us back almost 50 years.
“Division, playing on ethnic differences, the influence of the colonizer who is again standing in the doorway with his military boots on, a deal with an oil giant that will mainly bring enormous wealth to a small elite and thus make the differences between rich and poor even greater. Suriname finds itself at a crossroads again.
“The government led by our President has brought us to a situation where most people tremble at the thought that this policy will be continued after 2025. I dare say that this President did not come, never came to improve the lives of the Surinamese,” Hook told reporters.
He said among the other issues that voters should take into consideration when they go to vote is to change the laws regarding the state-own oil and gas company, Staatsolie, regarding the appointment of the First Lady of Suriname to its board of directors, land allocation in Coronie to a Guyanese entrepreneur for coconut production, fishing licenses and the country wanting to set up an embassy in Jerusalem, while adopting unfavorable positions on the Gaza issues and the war in Ukraine.
PALU has also questioned the agreements within the offshore oil industry, and Hok said that the party fears that, as a result, the country will suffer from the ‘oil curse’ that affects developing countries.
“Continuation of this government will mean further destruction of our country and society. Now, the oil curse is added to it. There must, therefore, be urgent, even radical change in the political leadership of Suriname. That is what the PALU is going for a radical change in the government of Suriname,” he said of the party, which contested its first general election in 1977.
“We are not against anyone. We are against the policy. We need a government with its heart in the right place, with expertise, that can unite Surinamese around their future. A government that does not rule over the Surinamese but that governs the country. Together with the Surinamese,” said Hok.
On the possibility of joining a coalition government next year, Hok said, “We should not put too much power in one hand.
“Society should pay close attention to that. We think that if the voters would give us the mandate strong enough to work with everyone… but if you cannot say ‘this far and no further,’… then you better not go,” he added.
In the 202 general election, PALU was part of the Megacombnatic electoral alliance under the leadership of the National Democratic Party (NDP), led by former president Desi Bouterse. In the 2015 general election, PALU got one seat, but it lost it in the 202 general election.
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