The National Democratic Party ( nl, Nationale Democratische Partij, NDP) is a

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 ideological or p ...

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 nor ...

. It was founded on 4 July 1987 by Surinamese leader

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 facto ...

, and was one of the first parties in the country to have a stable base of support across different ethnic groups. In the 2015 general election the party scored 45.56% of the vote and 26 of 51 seats in parliament. NDP chairman Bouterse was elected

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 ( ...

on 19 July 2010, after he won the 2010 elections with his Mega Combination of which the NDP was the dominant party. The party won the 2015 elections as well, winning 26 seats against an alliance of 7 (later 6) opposition parties. In the 2020 elections, the NDP won 16 of the 51 seats. Dési Bouterse lost the presidency and he was succeeded by opposition leader

Chan Santokhi Chandrikapersad "Chan" Santokhi ( Sarnami: चान संतोखी; ; born 3 February 1959) is a Surinamese politician and former police officer who is the 9th president of Suriname, since 2020. After winning the 2020 elections, Santokhi ...

. The opposition parties formed a new coalition government. The NDP subsequently became the main opposition party.

Foundation

The NDP was formed from a reorganisation of the ''Vijfentwintig Februari Beweging'' (VFB, February Twenty-Five Movement), a political movement established on 24 November 1983 by

and the ruling

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

Electoral results

Trivia

* The NDP was the first political party in Suriname to have a website. It was set up for the 1996 election campaign.

References

External links

Official website
Political parties in Suriname Political parties established in 1987 Socialist parties in South America 1987 establishments in South America Socialism in Suriname {{Suriname-party-stub