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The 1996 Suriname Elections
The 1996 Suriname Elections
(The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS ))
In the May 23, 1996 elections the incumbent New Front for Democracy and Development (New Front) failed to win a parliamentary majority, let alone the two-thirds needed to name a president. The New Front, a coalition of ethnic-based parties, then unraveled in the summer during failed attempts to widen its alliance among smaller parties. That paved the way for the left-nationalist National Democratic Party (NDP), led by former dictator Desi Bouterse, to come to power in a coalition that included New Front defectors.