President of Suriname

The president of the Republic of Suriname (Template:Langx) is, in accordance with the Constitution of 1987, the head of state and head of government of Suriname, and commander-in-chief of the Suriname National Army (SNL). The president also appoints a cabinet.

The current president is Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, a former chairwoman of the National Assembly. She is affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NDP). Simons was elected on 6 July 2025 as president by acclamation,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and inaugurated on 16 July on the Onafhankelijkheidsplein in Paramaribo in a ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

The office of president was created upon independence from the Netherlands in 1975. Until 1987, the presidency was mostly a ceremonial post, discharging most of the functions previously vested in the monarchy of the Netherlands. For all intents and purposes, real power was vested in the prime minister.

The first officeholder was Johan Ferrier, a schoolteacher and veteran politician who had served as governor since 1968. He resigned as president in August 1980, several months after a coup d'état. From then until 1988, the presidents were essentially army-installed puppets of army commander Dési Bouterse, who ruled as a de facto military dictator with few practical checks on his power.

Bouterse allowed multiparty elections in 1987, shortly after the current constitution was approved in a referendum. The presidency became an executive post, with duties and responsibilities similar to those of presidents in semi-presidential republics. On 24 December 1990, two days after Bouterse's resignation as army commander, the army called president Ramsewak Shankar to inform him that he and his cabinet were removed from office, in another coup d'état; police chief and acting army commander Ivan Graanoogst was appointed acting president. On 27 December 1990, Johannes Kraag became the president. The army returned power to civilians in 1991, and the president has been freely elected ever since.

Election

The president and a vice president are elected by no less than a two-thirds supermajority of members in the National Assembly to a five-year mandate and are accountable to the Assembly. During their time in office, the president must forfeit any additional posts in politics or business.

Qualification

A candidate must be a Surinamese national (resident in the country for at least six years) who is at least 30 years of age. A candidate must win at least two-thirds of the votes in the Assembly to be elected. If no candidate wins two-thirds after three rounds, the vote then goes to the United People's Congress, composed of the Assembly and local government officials. In this case, a simple majority is required.

Powers and duties

The president is vested with extensive functional powers. The president names and dismisses ministers, signs bills, and names and dismisses diplomatic staff. She declares war and states of emergency with the ratification of the National Assembly. She concludes foreign treaties and agreements, again with the assent of the Assembly. She also exercises ceremonial duties such as conferring awards, receiving foreign diplomats, and granting pardons.

List of presidents

<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political parties

President			Term of office			Political party	Vice president(s)
Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|1		Johan Ferrier Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1975	Template:Nowrap 1980 Template:Efn	Template:Age in years and days	NPS	Position not established
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|2		Henk Chin A Sen Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1980<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Template:Nowrap 1982 Template:Efn	Template:Age in years and days	PNR
style="background:Template:Party color; color:black"|3		Fred Ramdat Misier Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1982	Template:Nowrap 1988	Template:Age in years and days	Independent
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|4		Ramsewak Shankar Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1988	Template:Nowrap 1990 Template:Efn	Template:Age in years and days	VHP	Henck Arron (NPS)
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|5	File:Minister van Sociale Zaken van Suriname dhr Kraag voor besprekingen in Holland , Bestanddeelnr 915-4476 (cropped).jpg	Johan Kraag Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1990	Template:Nowrap 1991	Template:Age in years and days	NPS	Jules Wijdenbosch (NDP)
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|6		Ronald Venetiaan Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1991	Template:Nowrap 1996	Template:Age in years and days	NPS	Jules Ajodhia (VHP)
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|7	File:JulesWijdenbosch2017.jpg	Jules Wijdenbosch Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1996	Template:Nowrap 2000	Template:Age in years and days	NDP	Pretaap Radhakishun (BVD)
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|Template:Small		Ronald Venetiaan Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 2000	Template:Nowrap 2010	Template:Age in years years	NPS	Jules Ajodhia (VHP)
Ramdien Sardjoe (VHP)
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|8	File:Дези Баутерсе.jpg	Dési Bouterse Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 2010	Template:Nowrap 2020	Template:Age in years and days	NDP	Robert Ameerali (ABOP)
Ashwin Adhin (NDP)
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|9	File:Чандрикаперсад Сантохи (cropped) v3.jpeg	Chan Santokhi Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 2020	Template:Nowrap 2025	Template:Age in years years	VHP	Ronnie Brunswijk (ABOP)
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"|10	File:Jennifer Simons in 2015.jpg	Jennifer Geerlings-Simons Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 2025	Template:Nowrap	Template:Age in years and days Template:Small	NDP	Gregory Rusland (NPS)

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:110 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1975 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1975 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1975

Colors =

 id:independent value:rgb(0.87,0.87,0.87) legend:None_(Independent)
 id:nps         value:rgb(0,0.59,0.30)    legend:National_Party_of_Suriname
 id:pnr         value:rgb(0,0.28,0.67)    legend:Nationalist_Republican_Party
 id:vhp         value:rgb(1,0.4,0)        legend:Progressive_Reform_Party
 id:ndp         value:rgb(0.53,0.16,0.56) legend:National_Democratic_Party

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political parties:"

BarData =

bar:Ferrier
bar:Chin_A_Sen
bar:Ramdat_Misier
bar:Shankar
bar:Kraag
bar:Venetiaan
bar:Wijdenbosch
bar:Bouterse
bar:Santokhi
bar:Simons

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Ferrier
 from: 25/11/1975 till: 13/08/1980 color:nps         text:"Johan Ferrier"
bar:Chin_A_Sen
 from: 15/08/1980 till: 04/02/1982 color:pnr         text:"Henk Chin A Sen"
bar:Ramdat_Misier
 from: 08/02/1982 till: 25/01/1988 color:independent text:"Fred Ramdat Misier"
bar:Shankar
 from: 25/01/1988 till: 24/12/1990 color:vhp         text:"Ramsewak Shankar"
bar:Kraag
 from: 29/12/1990 till: 16/09/1991 color:nps         text:"Johan Kraag"
bar:Venetiaan
 from: 16/09/1991 till: 15/09/1996 color:nps
 from: 12/08/2000 till: 12/08/2010 color:nps         text:"Ronald Venetiaan"
bar:Wijdenbosch
 from: 15/09/1996 till: 12/08/2000 color:ndp         text:"Jules Wijdenbosch"
bar:Bouterse
 from: 12/08/2010 till: 16/07/2020 color:ndp         text:"Dési Bouterse"
bar:Santokhi
 from: 16/07/2020 till: 16/07/2025 color:vhp         text:"Chan Santokhi"
bar:Simons
 from: 16/07/2025 till: $today     color:ndp         text:"Jennifer Geerlings-Simons"

</timeline>

See also

• Politics of Suriname
• First Lady of Suriname
• List of colonial governors of Suriname
• Vice President of Suriname
• List of prime ministers of Suriname
• List of deputy prime ministers of Suriname

External links

• Template:In lang Kabinet van de President van de Republiek Suriname
• Template:In lang Constitution of the Republic of Suriname, 1987