The president is chief of state and head of government, and is elected to five-year terms by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. If no such majority can be reached, a United People’s Assembly—consisting of national-, regional-, and local-level lawmakers—chooses the president by a simple majority. President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi and Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk were elected in 2020, in accordance with the law.

The 1987 constitution provides for a unicameral, 51-seat National Assembly. Representatives are elected for five-year terms via proportional representation. In the 2020 elections, the Progressive Reform Party (VHP) won 20 seats, Bouterse’s National Democratic Party (NDP) won 16, the General Liberation and Development Party (ABOP) won 8, and three smaller parties split the remaining 7.

Observers from the Caribbean Community and the Organization of American States (OAS) described the elections as free and fair. The OAS noted some administrative problems, including ballot misprints and deliveries of ballot papers to the wrong polling stations. Nonetheless, no serious concerns were raised about the announced results.

Electoral laws generally meet international standards on fairness. However, until recently electoral districts were unequal in size, as boundaries had not been redrawn to account for the population growth that had occurred since they were established in 1987. The Supreme Court ruled the existing electoral system unconstitutional in 2022, and following its decision proposed changes included switching to a “one man, one vote” system.

Discussions continued into 2023, and in October parliament amended the electoral law ahead of the 2025 elections. It replaced individual electoral districts with one nationwide constituency, allowing voters to cast their ballot for any eligible candidate in the next election cycle.

Suriname’s many political parties, which often reflect ethnic cleavages, generally form and operate freely.

The opposition has a realistic opportunity to increase its support or enter government through elections. Suriname has experienced multiple democratic transfers of power.

People’s political choices are generally not subject to undue coercion. However, opposition parties have raised concerns about campaign financing—which is unregulated and lacks transparency—and the resulting influence that special interest groups can have on parties and candidates.

During the 2020 election campaign, the NDP was accused of engaging in clientelism by distributing food to citizens. Other parties use similar tactics, including by distributing money and funding community projects using politicians’ personal wealth. In 2023, Vice President Brunswijk, who leads the ABOP party, organized a lottery in which local leaders were given cars as prizes.

In general, parties are often formed along ethnic lines, meaning most ethnic groups have political representation. Indigenous people, however, are poorly represented in politics. The interests of Maroons, the descendants of escaped slaves, are represented by Vice President Brunswijk’s ABOP and the small Brotherhood and Unity Party (BEP). Brunswijk is the first Maroon vice president.

While there are women in the Santokhi cabinet, women have historically played a limited role in politics and remain underrepresented. Of the 51 National Assembly members elected in 2020, 15 were women. There are no openly gay politicians in Suriname, and LGBT+ people regularly face discrimination.

The country’s freely elected representatives generally determine government policies without undue interference. However, when decisions cause a rift between the two largest parties in government the president's input is sometimes ignored by ministers from the vice president's party.

While the Bouterse government used its narrow parliamentary majority to avoid repercussions for actions that appeared to exceed its legitimate authority, the Santokhi administration has refrained from executive overreach.

Government corruption is pervasive. In 2017, the National Assembly adopted a new anticorruption law. An anticorruption commission was subsequently established in May 2023, and towards the end of the year officials announced that the anticorruption law would be fully implemented by January 2024.

Under the Santokhi government, relatives of high-ranking officials have continued to receive significant positions in government and in major enterprises, including first lady Mellisa Santokhi-Seenacherry and Leo Brunswijk, the vice president’s brother. In 2022, the Public Prosecutor's Office reportedly found that Leo Brunswijk had mismanaged public procurement processes and made “unlawful payments” while serving as the head of the supervisory board of the state-owned Energy Companies Suriname (EBS). No prosecution has taken place, and in February 2023, Leo Brunswijk was appointed general director of EBS by the vice president.

The former head of the Surinamese central bank, Robert van Trikt, was detained for fraud in 2020. He was convicted and received an eight-year prison term in 2022, but was conditionally released that November. His appeal process was ongoing at the end of 2023.

In November 2023, a whistleblower submitted documents that allegedly showed that politicians were involved in housing-related fraud and filed a criminal complaint.

The Santokhi government promised to improve transparency and communication with the public and has conducted somewhat regular press conferences. Officials are not required to disclose information about their finances in practice, despite disclosure provisions in the 2017 anticorruption law. Suriname has no law to facilitate access to public information, and access is limited in practice.

The constitution guarantees press freedom, and the media sector is fairly diverse. The press frequently publishes stories that are critical of the government, though some journalists self-censor in response to pressure and intimidation from authorities. The Santokhi government has generally adopted an open relationship with the media.

Journalists do face violence, however. In 2021, guards protecting Vice President Brunswijk assaulted journalist Jason Pinas and illegally seized and damaged his phone after Pinas used his device to take photos of Brunswijk. Three guards received suspended sentences for assaulting Pinas in 2022.

At a Javanese celebration in July 2023, a singer performing a song frequently used at protests, “Life Has Become Difficult Now,” was told to stop performing by the interior minister. The interior minister later verbally attacked a radio station and a newspaper that reported on the incident. President Santokhi summoned the minister to express his disapproval, and the minister issued an apology.

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed and generally upheld.

Academic freedom is generally respected.

Freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution. There are no formal constraints on the expression of personal views.

The constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, which is generally respected. Major protests—motivated by corruption, nepotism, and the cost of living—were held in 2022. In February 2023, an antigovernment demonstration protesting the elimination of government subsidies and the high cost of living ended in violent riots and looting. There were unsubstantiated allegations that the unrest was instigated by the opposition NDP party.

Nongovernmental organizations function freely in Suriname.

Workers are free to join independent trade unions, which are actively involved in politics. There have been isolated reports of private-sector employers denying collective bargaining rights to unions.

The judiciary enjoyed improved autonomy following the change of government in 2020. However, judicial independence is still undermined by corruption and nepotism, and critics, among them the NDP, have claimed that the judiciary is not independent.

In 2022, the mother of former central-bank governor Robert van Trikt accused Judge Maytrie Kuldip Singh of presiding over a politically motivated trial against him. She claimed that Kuldip Singh's subsequent nomination to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights was an effective reward for the verdict against van Trikt.

Obstacles to due process include a lack of capacity and resources, which contributes to corruption, trial delays, and long waits for appeals. Pretrial detention, even for minor crimes, is common and can sometimes last years.

Low wages for police encourage bribery and extortion. Payments are sometimes made to obtain favorable outcomes in criminal and civil proceedings.

In 2019, the Military Court convicted former president Désire “Dési” Bouterse for the abduction and murder of 15 political opponents in 1982, when he was Suriname’s military ruler, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bouterse’s conviction was upheld in 2021 and again at the end of December 2023, ending a 17-year judicial process.

In 2022, Joel Martinus, a politician and friend of Vice President Brunswijk, managed to flee after he was warned of his impending arrest for large-scale drug trafficking and involvement in a murder.

The population is generally free from major threats to physical security. However, Surinamese are at risk of violent crime, including armed robbery. Temporary detention facilities are unhygienic, understaffed, and overcrowded.

Suriname lies on a major drug-trafficking route, giving rise to some trafficking-related violence. Major smuggling activity is frequently uncovered by the police. Dutch courts have convicted both former president Bouterse and current vice president Brunswijk of drug trafficking in absentia.

The use of excessive force by law enforcement officials is prohibited, but police violence occurs. In 2023, a group of Indigenous protestors attacked and set fire to logging trucks and their village's police station. Two of the attackers were killed, allegedly by police bullets. Images taken before their death show the victims in police custody but alive, suggesting the men were executed by police after their arrest. An investigation had not led anywhere by the end of 2023.

The constitution prohibits race-based or ethnic discrimination. Nevertheless, Maroon and Indigenous people in the hinterland lack equal access to education and employment.

Same-sex sexual relations are legal, though the age of consent differs from that applied to opposite-sex couples. Despite legal protections adopted in 2015, LGBT+ people face societal discrimination, harassment, and abuse by police.

The constitution bars gender discrimination, but women experience disadvantages in access to employment and education in practice.

The government generally upholds constitutional freedoms of internal movement and residence, though the lack of protections for Indigenous and Maroon lands leaves those communities vulnerable to displacement.

Property rights are constitutionally guaranteed but are sometimes inadequately protected. Corruption, especially regarding land policy, government contracts, and licensing, can hinder private business activity. Indigenous and other minority groups face illegal land expropriation, including by illegal logging and mining operations.

Indigenous peoples and Maroons’ traditional land rights are not guaranteed by law. While a 2015 verdict by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights stipulated that the land rights of the inland population should be regulated and respected, that verdict has not been implemented by the government. A draft bill to regulate collective rights was introduced in 2020 but was not decided upon in 2023.

Women face inequality related to inheritance and property due to discriminatory cultural customs.

Individuals are generally free of undue constraints on personal status decisions such as marriage and divorce, though those decisions are impacted by cultural forces. Despite efforts by the Santokhi government, gender-based violence remains a serious problem; laws that criminalize it are not well enforced. Same-sex marriages are not legal in Suriname.

Despite continuous government efforts to combat it, human trafficking remains a serious problem. The US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report noted increased trafficking in the remote interior of Suriname in “recent years” due to inadequate immigration policies and enforcement, which have made migrants vulnerable to trafficking. Increasing corruption also hinders antitrafficking measures.

Construction and mining work often receives inadequate scrutiny from labor inspectors. Insufficient government monitoring of the country’s interior makes the full extent of the problem unclear.

Women and migrant workers are especially at risk of sexual exploitation and forced labor in various industries. The deteriorating economy in nearby Venezuela has increased the vulnerability of Venezuelan women to sex trafficking in Suriname.