VICE PRESIDENT FACING STIFF OPPOSITION FROM OWN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARAMARIBO 000336

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR LLUFTIG
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON NS
SUBJECT: VICE PRESIDENT FACING STIFF OPPOSITION FROM OWN
PARTY

PARAMARIBO 00000336 001.2 OF 003


REFTELS: (A) PARAMARIBO 219 (B) PARAMARIBO 286


1. (U) Summary. Nine months after its formation, the
governing New Front Plus coalition is plagued by
infighting. The newcomer to the coalition, the all-Maroon
A-Combination, often finds itself at odds with its
coalition partners (see Ref A) while the ambitious
Javanese-based Pertjaja Luhur party is known to flex its
muscles much to the chagrin of President Ronald Venetiaan.
(See Ref B). The position of the Hindustani-based United
Reform Party (VHP) within the coalition has weakened
recently with the escalation of long simmering internal
party troubles undermining its strength and threatening the
party's cohesion. Factions within the VHP are extremely
dissatisfied with a lack of internal party democracy and
Vice-President and VHP chairman Ramdien Sardjoe's
leadership. The disgruntled members went so far as to take
VHP leadership to court to force change, but the presiding
judge rejected their demands on June 2. The conflict
between the older, inflexible guard of the VHP embodied in
the 70-year old Sardjoe and the VHP's younger generation
demanding reform and transparency is common to parties as a
political generational shift is emerging in Suriname. This
is the third in a series of cables on the strained
coalition in Suriname and will focus on the VHP's
preoccupation with its internal party problems. End
Summary.

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VHP: SURINAME'S OLDEST AND LARGEST HINDUSTANI PARTY
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Established in 1949, the VHP is one of the oldest
political parties in Suriname and was one of the founding
parties of the governing New Front coalition. The party,
symbolized by an elephant, is the largest Hindustani-based
party in Suriname and ethnically homogeneous. The party
elites are primarily wealthy government officials or
successful businessmen while the majority of VHP supporters
come from low-income backgrounds, with a large rural
contingency particularly in the coastal districts.


3. (U) The VHP suffered a severe blow during the 1996
national election when five members of an internal splinter
group (BVD) crossed the aisle to help secure an electoral
victory for the National Democratic Party (NDP) opposition
candidate Jules Wijdenbosch. After sitting in the
opposition for 4 years, the VHP as part of the New Front
coalition was once again elected into power in 2000 and

2005. Last year's election proved to be the worst showing
ever for the VHP in a democratic election in Suriname. Its
share of the overall vote fell by four percent (from 19 to
15 percent). This resulted in the loss of three seats in
the 51-seat National Assembly from 10 to 7, the least it
has ever held. The party only won one of five available
seats in its traditional stronghold of Nickerie, versus
three in 2000. The drop in seats translated into a loss of
two ministerial positions traditionally in the hands of the
VHP as the New Front had to make room for additional
coalition partners to obtain a majority.

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INTERNAL OPPOSITION FRACTIONS FORM AND DEMAND CHANGE
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4. (U) While the eight parties of the New Front Plus
coalition continue to struggle to keep their coalition
together, VHP leaders are struggling to keep their own
party together. In December 2005, disgruntled VHP members
unhappy with party leadership and the downward trajectory
of the VHP formed a pressure group to demand change. The
action group, named Renewal, Rejuvenation and Change (VVV),
is led by Anand Girjasingh, member of a prominent VHP
family, and Prim Raghoebarsingh, who is the brother of the
VHP Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and
Fisheries. In April, another opposition group formed with
support from several senior officials at various VHP-
controlled Ministries and voiced many of the same
complaints as the VVV.


5. (U) The VVV is pressing for more internal party
democracy, stating that the party of some 10,000 card-
carrying members is being led by a small group who use the
party to further their own interests. They say that rules

PARAMARIBO 00000336 002.2 OF 003


and regulations of the party have never been made public
and are unknown to many members. They also complain that
party elections are not held regularly, and that important
party decisions are still voted on by a show of hands, a
practice, the VVV claims, designed to intimidate. The VVV
is also very unhappy with Vice-President Sardjoe's
management of the party and is demanding that he step down.
The VVV was extremely upset when the VHP executive board
gave up the party's claim to the Speaker of the National
Assembly position to accommodate the Javanese-based
Pertjaja Luhur during the formation of the New Front Plus
coalition in 2005. The party had occupied this position
every other time it had been in power.


6. (U) Unhappy with months of fruitless dialogue with VHP
leaders, the VVV took a dramatic step on April 13,
instituting summary court proceedings against the VHP
executive board to press their demands for a change in the
timing of internal elections and greater transparency.
After weeks of unsuccessful court-ordered talks, presiding
Judge John von Niesewand ruled in favor of the VHP
executive board on June 2. The VVV is still considering
whether to appeal the decision. The judge did not issue an
opinion alongside his ruling. Observers note that Von
Niesewand was in a difficult spot, as ruling against the
VHP executive board would have essentially been ruling
against the Vice-President, a politically sensitive move.
(Note: That the President and Vice-President also serve as
their party chairmen highlights the consolidation of power
both enjoy and the conflict of interest inherent in the
system. End Note.)

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OPPOSITION GEARING FOR HEATED PARTY ELECTIONS
-------------- -


7. (U) With the ruling, VHP leaders are now free to
schedule party elections, which will most likely be in mid-
July. Sardjoe said that a victory of one partner over
another was no victory for the VHP, and that he wants to
turn opponents into allies. VVV leaders show no signs of
backing down and stated their intention to put forward an
alternative list of candidates for the executive board and
other party organs. A senior member of the VHP advisory
board has already publicly declared his support of the
VVV's candidate list and predicted many others would do the
same.


8. (SBU) A former VHP parliamentarian told the Ambassador
that internal VHP opposition to Sardjoe is significant
enough that if fair and transparent elections were held,
Sardjoe and his fellow board members would lose. For
decades, the VHP drew strength from its charismatic and
popular leader Jaggernath Lachmon, but since Lachmon's
death in 2001, Sardjoe has been unable to fill his shoes,
and the VHP has suffered accordingly. Sardjoe is perceived
by many to be arrogant and out of touch. One of his
initial moves upon becoming Vice-President was to
discontinue weekly press briefing performed by his
predecessor, breaking off one of the few regular avenues of
communication between the government and the electorate.

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DISCONTENT NOT ISOLATED TO VHP
--------------


9. (U) Likely influenced by events within the VHP, there
are now whispers of similar actions being planned by groups
within President Venetiaan's National Party Suriname (NPS)
party. A senior NPS official, however, recently dismissed
the portrayal of the level of discontent as exaggerated.
President Venetiaan, who turns 70 this month, has been at
the helm of his party for years and is currently serving
his third non-consecutive presidential term. As in the
VHP, some party members complain of a lack of internal
democracy and too much power in the hands of party elites.

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COMMENT
--------------


10. (U) The VHP stands to lose its dominant position among
the Hindustani population, Suriname's largest ethnic group
at 27 percent, unless it changes course to become a more

PARAMARIBO 00000336 003.2 OF 003


modern, transparent political party. By remaining
inflexible and resistant to internal debate, the old guard
within the party led by Sardjoe may cause a dissident
faction to leave as occurred in 1996, dealing a severe blow
to its bargaining clout within the governing coalition and
its prospects for future electoral support. The need for
increased internal party democracy is not isolated to the
VHP, but applies to all of Suriname's major parties, in
which older politicians tend to cling to power and control
at the expense of developing the next generation of
leaders. Two bright spots for the VHP's future are
Minister of Justice and Police Chandrikapersad Santokhi,
who is currently the most proactive and popular Minister
and may be eyeing a presidential bid in 2010, and
Kermechend Raghoebarsing, the well-regarded Minister of
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries and the former
Minister of Planning and Development.

BARNES