Jennifer Garlings Simmons leads a poor Latin American country through crisis before oil wealth arrives.
Suriname elected Jennifer Gearings Simmons as the first female president, and Congress is supporting a 71-year-old doctor and lawmaker to lead a crisis-hit South American nation.
Her election came after a coalition contract was struck in the National Assembly, which was voted by a two-thirds majority on Sunday.
The move has heightened pressure to replace the decisive May vote and resignation of President Chandrika Persado Santoki, whose tenure has been hampered by a corrupt scandal and severe austerity.
Geerlings-Simons, leader of the Democratic Party of Nations, ran unopposed and will take office on July 16th.
“I know that the heavy work I have undertaken is exacerbated by the fact that I am the first woman to serve the country in this position,” she said after confirmation.
She is joined by running her fellow Gregory Lasland as she inherits a country struggling under the weight of economic hardships, subsidies declines and widespread grievances. The Santoki government managed to restructure its debt and restore macroeconomic stability with the support of the IMF, but sparked massive protests against deep cuts.
![Suriname opposition leader Jennifer Garlings Simmons (c) will greet the members of Congress after the parliamentary election held in Paramaribo on July 6, 2025. [Ranu Abhelakh/ AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/000_64XZ9NQ-1751868905.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Suriname is expected to begin production of offshore oil in 2028, and Geerlings-Simons has pledged to focus on stabilizing the state’s finances. She has previously committed to increasing her income by tightening tax collections, including small gold miners.
The economist warns that she is facing the rocky path ahead. Winston Ramautarsin, former director of the National Association of Economists, said Suriname must repay about $400 million a year in debt services.
“Suriname doesn’t have that money,” he said. “The previous government rescheduled its debt, but that was merely a postponement.”
Geerlings-Simons will be tasked with piloting 646,000 Dutch-speaking countries through fragile times and balancing them with the promise of future oil wealth.
As Suriname prepares to mark its 50th anniversary since its independence from the Netherlands this November, a small South American nation is stabilizing hopes in a new era of deepening its relationship with oil wealth and China.
In 2019, he joined the Belt and Road Initiative in China and became one of the first Latin American states to sign on to a vast infrastructure project.
Suriname is one of the poorest countries on the continent despite its tapestry of rich ethnic groups, including descendants of African, Indigenous, Indian, Indonesian, Chinese and Dutch settlers.
