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Suriname
Women in decision-making positions
33%
Members of local deliberative bodies are women (39 elected women)
Head of State/Government is a woman
President: Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
31%
Parliamentarians are women
29%
Ministers are women

Government organization

Spheres of government

Suriname ­­­­­­­is a unitary republic with two spheres of government: central and local.

One tier of central government and one tier of local government composed of districts.

  • Head of State: The President is elected by the National Assembly.
  • Head of Government: The President is the Head of State and the Head of Government.
  • Legislative body: The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature whose members are directly elected by voters.
  • Executive body: The Council of Ministers, presided by the Vice-President, is composed of ministers appointed by the President. The Vice-President is elected by the National Assembly.

  • Organization: Local government is organized into one tier of ten district-level local government units. Local councils (ressortraad) of the administrative districts are not considered as local government due to a lack of administrative and financial competencies.
  • Competencies: Local government is responsible for making ordinances, setting local taxes, and drawing up the district budget, subject to the National Assembly, and managing the district fund.
  • Ministerial oversight: Ministry of Regional Development

Overview of local government

Local government composition

Deliberative body: The district council (districtsraad) is composed of 7-21 members. The district commissioner (districtscommissaris) presides over the district council; the district commissioner is also vested with executive powers.

Executive body: The district administration (districtsbestuur) is composed of members appointed by the central government, including one representative from each district ministerial department and the district commissioner (or two commissioners in the District of Paramaribo) as chairperson.

Local government elections

Electoral system for local councils: proportional representation (open list)

  • Local councils are directly elected by voters within the administrative jurisdiction. The voter selects the names of the candidates of their choice up to the maximum number of seats to be filled in the relevant local council. The polling station determines the number the votes cast for each candidate on a list by counting order of received personal votes. All available seats are distributed.

Electoral system for district councils: complementary proportional representation

  • The political organizations participating in the election for the local councils also nominate candidates for delegation to the district council. The composition of the district councils are established after the elections of the local councils in the administrative jurisdiction of the district concerned. The seats in the district council are given to the representative political organizations with a seat in the local councils of the district concerned, in proportion to the total number of seats they acquired in the local councils, as determined by the principal electoral committee. Membership of the local and district councils are incompatible.

Source: Constitution of Suriname, 1987 (amended through 1992), articles  162 and 163; Electoral law, 1987 (amended through 2019), articles 11, 24, 129 and 130

  • Gender quotas: No
  • Additional quotas: No

  • Term length: 5 years
  • Last local elections: 2020
  • Next local elections: 2025

Independent Electoral Council of Suriname

National legal framework on local government

  • Constitution of Suriname, 1987 (amended through 1992);
  • Regional Organs Act, 1989 (amended through 2015);
  • Electoral Law, 1987 (amended through 2019).

There are constitutional provisions that establish local government in Suriname. According to Articles 159, 161, and 167 of the Constitution of 1987 (amended through 1992), “the democratic order of the Republic of Suriname comprises inferior government organs on the regional level, whose function, organization, competence, and operation mode shall be regulated by law in accordance with the principles of participatory democracy and decentralization of administration and legislation. There are two representative bodies on the regional level: the district councils and the local councils.[IB1] [AA2] [AA3]  The district council is the supreme political-administrative organ of the district. The local council is the supreme political-administrative institution of the administrative jurisdiction. The district councils and local councils express the will and the aspiration of the inhabitants.”

The National Assembly is responsible for establishing the national legal framework on local government. The key piece of legislation that regulates local government is the Regional Organs Act of 1989 (amended through 2015), which lays down rules concerning the organization and powers of the regional organs.

Sources:

1. UN Women: Data on share of women in local government as of 1 January 2025.

2. UN Women: Information on Head of State and Government as of 1 December 2025.

3. Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): Data on share of women in the single/lower chamber of parliament as of 1 January 2025.

4. UN Women: Data on share of women Cabinet ministers as of 1 January 2025.

5. Information on local government organization as of 1 January 2023.