Postcard from Paramaribo
T
HESE are exciting times in Suriname, the smallest country in South America.
Since July, we have our first woman president. There was a hotly fought election in May, and Jennifer Geerlings-Simons’ (pictured) National Democratic Party, with support mainly from the Afro-Caribbeans in our 650,000 population, won one more seat in the 51-member assembly than the incumbent Chan Santokhi’s Progressive Reform Party, and its mainly Indo-Surinamese supporters. The close result means Geerlings-Simons must seek the backing of several smaller parties in order to govern – not always easy in our identity-conscious nation.