Chandrikapersad "Chan" Santokhi ( Sarnami: चान संतोखी; ; born 3 February 1959) is a

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se politician and former police officer who is the 9th

president of Suriname The president of the Republic of Suriname ( nl, President van de Republiek Suriname) 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 ( ...

, since 2020. After winning the 2020 elections, Santokhi was the sole nominee for president of Suriname. On 13 July, Santokhi was elected president by acclamation in an

uncontested election An uncontested election is an election in which the number of candidates is the same as or fewer than the number of places available for election, so that all candidates are guaranteed to be elected. An uncontested single-winner election is one w ...

. He was inaugurated on 16 July.

Early life

Chandrikapersad Santokhi was born on 3 February 1959, into an

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Suriname with ancestry from India and the wider subcontinent. Their ancestors were Indian indentured workers brought by the Dutch and th ...

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

family in

Lelydorp Lelydorp is the capital city of Wanica District, located in Suriname. With a population of 18,663 (2012), it is the second largest city in Suriname, after Paramaribo. History Pad van Wanica For centuries the Pad van Wanica (path of Wanica) has ...

, in district

(now known as district

Wanica Wanica is a district of Suriname located in the north of the country. Wanica's capital city is Lelydorp, the second-largest city in Suriname. Wanica has a population of 118,222 and an area of 443 km2. Following neighbouring Paramaribo, Wani ...

). He grew up in the

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, ...

as the youngest in a family of nine children. His father worked at the harbor of

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

and his mother worked as a shop assistant in Lelydorp.

Career

Police career

After Santokhi obtained his VWO diploma at the Algemene Middelbare School in

, he received a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

to study in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. From 1978 till 1982 he studied at the Police Academy of the Netherlands in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

. After completing his study he returned to Suriname in September 1982 to work for the police. Since the age of 23, Santokhi worked as a police inspector in Geyersvlijt and Wanica until he was appointed in 1989 as head of the national criminal investigation department. In 1991 he was appointed commissioner of police.

Minister of Justice

In September, 2005, Santokhi was sworn in as Minister of Justice and Police on behalf of the Progressive Reform Party. His period in office was marked by a heavy crackdown on crime, in particular

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

, and a strict, no-nonsense enforcement of law and order. This earned him the nickname ''

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

'', which he got from

Dési Bouterse Desiré Delano "Dési" Bouterse (; born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's ''de fact ...

December murders trial

Santokhi who, as police commissioner, led the investigation of the

December murders The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...

done at the start of his ministership so that the December murders trial could finally commence. Exclusive for the December murders trial he had a heavily secured courtroom built in

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital ...

, Wanica. Because Santokhi was the impulse behind the trial, he became a much discussed matter of the main suspect in that trial,

. Bouterse said on 26 November 2007, four days before the commencement of the trial, that Santokhi wanted to "imprison and kill him". Bouterse adduced that numerous previous attempts to "take him out" all failed and warned Santokhi to be cautious with his "intentions to eliminate Bouterse". On 29 November 2019, the Court of Appeal reached a

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...

in the

trial, and Bouterse had been convicted to 20 years' imprisonment. On 10 September 2008, Santokhi sued Bouterse for insult,

slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, because Bouterse had alleged that Santokhi had ties to drug dealers and other criminals. On 23 September 2008, the court ruled that the allegations were unproven, ordered Bouterse to publish a rectification, and a penalty payment of SRD100,000 for each day Bouterse failed to execute the sentence. The same day, Bouterse placed a rectification in ''

De West ''De West'' is one of the main newspapers of Suriname. ''De West'' was founded in 1892, and in its early years was a conservative paper that had a somewhat antagonistic rivalry with the left-leaning '' Suriname'', the other leading newspaper in w ...

'' where he admitted that the statements were untrue.

2010 general election

In the 2010 Surinamese general election, Santokhi received the highest number of votes after Dési Bouterse, despite being placed relatively low on the party list of the Progressive Reform Party. In July of that year, he was appointed as presidential candidate on behalf of the ruling political alliance

New Front for Democracy and Development The New Front for Democracy and Development ( nl, Nieuw Front voor Democratie en Ontwikkeling) was a social-democratic political alliance in Suriname. At the legislative elections (25 May 2005), the alliance won 41.2% of the popular votes and 23 ...

. Santokhi's opponent in the presidential elections was Dési Bouterse. Since Bouterse (

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

) cooperated with

Ronnie Brunswijk Ronnie Brunswijk (; born 7 March 1961) is a Surinamese politician, businessman, footballer, convicted drug trafficker, former rebel leader, and the current Vice President of Suriname. Brunswijk served in the early 1980s as the personal bodyguard ...

( ABOP) and

Paul Somohardjo Paul Salam Somohardjo (born 2 May 1943) is a Surinamese politician of Javanese descent. Somohardjo (nickname: ''Sómo'') has been called Paul Salam Somohardjo since childhood. Somohardjo also owns a radio and television station. Biography In 19 ...

( PL), his political alliance had a total of 36 seats, while the New Front only had fourteen. Consequently, Bouterse was elected the eighth

President of Suriname The president of the Republic of Suriname ( nl, President van de Republiek Suriname) 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 ( ...

President of CICAD

Santokhi, who for fifteen years was the official representative of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), was chosen on 6 December 2010, as president of this organization for one year. CICAD is an autonomous body of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

, that coordinates the drug policy of the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...

. In 2009, Santokhi was, also for one year, the vice-president of this organization.

Chairman of the Progressive Reform Party

On 3 July 2011, Santokhi was elected as chairman of the ''Vooruitstrevende Hervormings Partij'' (VHP) ( Progressive Reform Party). The Progressive Reform Party, which was once an

party, has grown, since the appointment of Santokhi as chairman, into a multi-ethnical party which, according to current statistics, is the second-biggest

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in Suriname. With eight seats in the parliament, the VHP was the biggest opposition party until 2020.

President of Suriname

On 26 May 2020, the preliminary results of the 2020 Surinamese general election showed that the VHP was the largest party, and that Chan Santokhi was the most likely candidate to become the ninth President of Suriname. On 30 May, Chan Santokhi announced his candidacy for

. On 29 June, the VHP nominated Chan Santokhi as their candidate for the Presidency. On 7 July, the coalition nominated Chan Santokhi as President of Suriname and

as Vice-President of Suriname. No other candidates had been nominated on 8 July 2020, 15:00 (UTC−3), and on 13 July Santokhi was elected as president by acclamation in an

. He was inaugurated on 16 July on the

Onafhankelijkheidsplein The Onafhankelijkheidsplein (, Independence Square) is a town square in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. The square is situated in the historical inner city, near the Suriname River and the Presidential Palace of Suriname. Before the indepen ...

in ceremony without the public due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He took his oath reciting Hindu

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

shloks and mantras in his oath ceremony. Santokhi's inauguration was also blessed by several Christian religious leaders. In September 2021, Santokhi visited the Netherlands and became the first Surinamese president to do so since 2008, after diplomatic relations between the two countries had cooled down. Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unileve ...

referred to the

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual enemy, as was the case with Germ ...

as "historic".

Personal life

On 19 July 2020, Chan Santokhi married his long-term partner, Mellisa Kavitadevi Seenacherry. The marriage took place in a private ceremony. Mellisa is a lawyer by profession. He also has two adult children (a daughter and a son) from a previous marriage.

References

External links

Chan Santokhi's Facebook page

Chan Santokhi's Twitteraccount
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Santokhi, Chan 1959 births Living people Justice ministers of Suriname Interior ministers of Suriname Members of the National Assembly (Suriname) Surinamese people of Indian descent Surinamese police officers Surinamese politicians of Indian descent People from Wanica District Progressive Reform Party (Suriname) politicians Presidents of Suriname Surinamese Hindus Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman