VZCZCXRO9956
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHPO #0336/01 1572005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 062005Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8398
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO 1040
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 1551
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
INTERNAL OPPOSITION FRACTIONS FORM AND DEMAND CHANGE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶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.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
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. 
 
------------------------------ 
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. 
 
--------- 
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