Ex-dictator Boutserse set to make comeback in Suriname election

by Ranu Abhelakh

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AFP): Former Suriname dictator Desi Bouterse is set to make a comeback in parliamentary elections on Wednesday and could even become president.

Bouterse led a military coup in 1980 that ruled the South American state for seven years and he will soon face a trial over the killing of 15 opponents in 1982.

His bid for the presidency is widely seen as a move to avoid imprisonment.

Bouterse is the main suspect in the deaths of 15 government critics -- including five journalists and four lawyers, union leaders and imopm leaders -- who were gunned down at the Fort Zeelandia military barracks on December 8, 1982.

He is also wanted in the Netherlands where he was tried in absentia in 1999 and sentenced to 11 years in jail for smuggling 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of cocaine. His lawyer in the Netherlands is expected to file a new appeal soon.

But in March, the US ambassador to Suriname, Marsha Barnes, said the United States and many other countries would find difficult to have normal relations with a government headed by Bouterse.

The country, which has a population of 490,000 Indian, Chinese, Javanese, European and Africa origin people, will choose 51 members of parliament.

The last opinion polls published in April indicated that Bouterse, a former soldier who heads the opposition National Democratic Party, is Suriname's most popular leader, just ahead of former president Jules Wijdenbosch, and current head-of-state Ronald Venetiaan.

The NDP expects to gain between 15 and 20 of the 51 seats, according to its nomination for parliamentary speaker Jennifer Simons-Geerlings.

She predicted no party would get the required two thirds majority (34 seats) to choose a president in the two rounds of voting that parliament gets.

But as the NDP is the biggest political party, she hoped its candidates for president and Vice president would have a fair chance to be chosen by the 895 member People Representatives Assembly, a special body of parliament members and municipal councillors, which comes together just to elect the president.

"Bouterse's candidacy is not a controversial issue for the NDP as he could make way for someone else", Simons-Geerlings told AFP.

"We are willing to form a coalition with other parties. First we will discuss issues and then candidates", said Simons-Geerlings, who currently heads the NDP parliamentary group.

Suriname became independent from the Netherlands in 1975. The United States and United Nations says it has become a transit point for drug trafficking, gun smuggling and money laundering.

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