Suriname faces major challenges.

The election results have been officially accepted by all political parties in Suriname and President Bouterse will have to thoroughly instruct and inspire his new government which is facing major challenges.
Nationally the demand for measures to curb corruption and nepotism is sounding loud and clear, while the gap between poor and rich is widening . After  his 2000-2005  government made huge investments in gold and mining industries in Suriname, we  have seen  a decline in the price of the precious mineral ore on the global markets. Suriname's economic climate is troubled by steep uncontrolled rise of prices for commodities  such as vegetables, meat, housing and transportation, while salaries have not been raised at the same pace. During the election campaign all parties involved promised austerity measures and agreed that the Surinamese economy needs to be revised and upgraded to live up to  international standards in terms of local and international  production and export achievements.
It is hard for the poor sections of Surinamese society to feed , clothe and send the children to school on a small or minimal budget, especially if transportation to the education centers is so costly.
It is even harder for a minister, who supports a clique of  corrupted officials, to explain to the workers and the Surinamese people in general that austerity measure are justified.
Given the small scale of Surinamese society, with only half a million people inhabiting only 20% of the national territory, any wrongdoing by officials will be known pretty easily and is hard to cover up.
At the same time the doom scenarios which oppositional politicians have been predicting, leading up to the elections, have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The election results show that the majority of voters have faith that with the leadership of President Bouterse a change is possible. The voters have faith that the corruption and nepotism ,which are historical characteristic of any post colonial Caribbean political system, can be tackled to the advantage of the Surinamese people.
It is extremely important to keep the momentum of change which has taken over, after the bitter and irresponsible political mudslinging episode of the final election days. The moment of change is offering breathing space. We already notice that the ugly downward spiral which was so characteristic of the past six months of political debating has changed and is turning towards collective positive approach of the many problems that need to be tackled. It will be a great achievement if the new government  can mobilize the  majority of our politicians to get the job done. Bouterse has to inspire the Surinamese people to collectively and massively put their shoulders under the big tasks ahead. The biggest of which will be  the task of  cleaning up a stilted and polluted political climate and the creation of a newsocial order which  is democratic and educates the people on what needs to be done to improve our living conditions. Any new government that fails to get economic progress on the map and keeps corruption going, will be unacceptable to Surinamese voters who have noticed that through hard work change on the political front is possible here in Suriname.