Former President Desi Bouterse remains the leader of the main opposition National Democratic Party (NDP), despite the postponement of internal elections slated for Sunday to 2027.
Bouterse is still the party’s chairman, having created it on July 4, 1987. The Central Political Organ (CPO), which is chaired by Bouterse and has the capacity to make general political decisions, met on Sunday.
The NDP noted in a statement that despite the postponement of internal elections, the party’s various committees had endorsed the party’s political programme, and that the Scientific Bureau had held multiple hearings in recent months before to Sunday’s meeting.
It also mentioned the recent Constitutional Court judgement on the election system, which it said was given to the meeting “and the party’s viewpoint and the next steps to be done were discussed.”
The internal elections will be held two years after the national elections in 2025, according to the statement, and the next CPO meeting will be held in the first quarter of 2023.
The NDP won only 16 of the 51 seats in the 2020 elections.
