PARAMARIBO, March 30 (Reuters) – Suriname’s former president Chandrikapersad Santokhi, who governed from 2020 to 2025, died suddenly on Monday at the age of 67, his successor and the South American country’s current president said.
“His many years of service in various public offices will be remembered,” President Jennifer Simons said in a statement shared on social media. A cause of death was not immediately given.
Santokhi, chairman of Suriname’s Progressive Reform Party, left office after last year’s elections. He won more votes as a member of parliament than any other lawmaker, but his party finished closely behind Simons’ National Democratic Party, which led to a coalition deal to install Simons as president.
Suriname’s president is elected indirectly, requiring the votes of two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly.
As president, Santokhi implemented a series of painful reform measures backed by the International Monetary Fund. Opponents said he did not do enough to protect the poorer and more vulnerable sectors of society.
Santokhi told lawmakers in July that he took responsibility for his shortcomings and hoped he would be remembered for his commitment.
After leaving the presidency, Santokhi continued to serve as a member of parliament.
As a former police commissioner and later, as justice minister, Santokhi investigated the 1982 killing of 15 leading government critics, and pushed for the case to move ahead.
Former President Desi Bouterse, whom Santokhi defeated in the 2020 election, was convicted in 2019 of overseeing the operation, in which soldiers abducted 16 critics, including lawyers, journalists, union leaders, soldiers and university professors, from their homes. Only one survived.
Bouterse’s conviction was upheld in December 2023 and he died a year later as a fugitive.
(Reporting by Ank Kuipers, Writing by Brendan O’Boyle, Editing by Natalia Siniawski, Julia Symmes Cobb and Rosalba O’Brien)
