At stake in this election:      

• The 51 seats in the National Assembly (Nationale Assemblée)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Dési BOUTERSE
• Head of Government: President Dési BOUTERSE
• Assembly: Suriname has a unicameral National Assembly (Nationale Assemblée) with 51 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by the National Assembly to serve a 5-year term.*
• In the National Assembly (Nationale Assemblée) 51 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.**

* If no presidential or vice presidential candidate receives a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly after two votes, a simple majority is required in the United People's Assembly (Volksvergadering), which consists of 893 representatives from the national, local, and regional councils.

** Members are elected to 10 multi-member constituencies. District magnitude is determined by the constitution and not population size.

Main parties in the electoral race[1]*:

• Coalition: Mega Combination (MC)**
• Leader: Ricardo PANKA (NDP)
• Seats won in last election: 23
• Coalition: People’s Alliance (PA) ***
• Leader: Slamet Paul SOMOHARDJO (PL)
• Seats won in last election: 6
• Coalition: New Front (NF)****
• Leader: Radjkoemar RANDJIETSINGH (VHP)
• Seats won in last election: 14
• Coalition: A Combination (AC)*****
• Leader: Ronny BRUNSWICK (ABOP)
• Seats won in last election: 5
• Party: Party for Democracy and Development Unit (DOE)
• Leader: Carl BREEVELD
• Seats won in last election: 1
• Party: Brotherhood and Unity in Politics (BEP)
• Leader: Ronny ASABINA
• Seats won in last election: 2

*A total of 25 total parties have registered for the election.  Of these, 15 are coalitions and 10 are competing as independent parties.[2]  Parties and coalitions listed are those listed on the National Assembly website, http://www.dna.sr/het-politiek-college/partijen/. 

** Includes: The National Democratic Party (Nationale Democratische Partij, NDP), Kerukunan Tulodo Prenatan Inggil (KTPI), New Suriname (NS), and the Progressive Workers and Farmers Union (PALU).

*** Includes: Pertjajah Luhur (PL)

**** Includes: The Progressive Reform Party (VHP), the National Party of Suriname (NPS), the '91 Democratic Alternative (DA '91), and the Surinamese Labour Party (SPA)

***** Includes: The General Liberation and Development Party (ABOP)

Last election:

• The last election for the National Assembly was held on 25 May 2010.  There were 324,490 registered voters for the election.  The National Democratic Party (Nationale Democratische Partij) won 23 seats (of 51) or 40.22% of the vote, the New Front Coalition won 14 seats (31.65%), A-Combinatie won 7 seats (4.70% of the vote), the People’s Alliance for Progress won 6 seats (12.98%), the Party for Democracy and Development through Unity won 1 seat (5.09%), the Basic Party for Renewal and Democracy/Political Wing of the Federation of Workers and Farmers won 0 seats (5.07%), the Democratic Union Suriname won 0 seats (0.12%), the Permanent Prosperity Republic of Suriname won 0 seats (0.11%), and the National Union won 0 seats (0.06%). 

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 573,311 (2014 est.)[3]
• Registered Voters: 356,223[4]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 284,623 (2014 est.)[5]
• Is Suriname a signatory to CEDAW: No
• Has Suriname ratified CEDAW: Yes (1 March 1993)[6]
• Gender Quota: No[7]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 6 (11.7%) of 51 seats the National Assembly[8]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 100[9]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

• Is Suriname a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
• Has Suriname ratified CRPD: No[10]