Suriname ‘coup’ leader seeks re-election

Bloomberg

A former coup leader with convictions for smuggling and murder was seeking re-election as president of Suriname.
President Desi Bouterse, 74, an ally of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, is bidding for a third five-year term as leader of the tiny South American nation, which is in deep economic crisis despite recent oil discoveries and investment from Exxon Mobil Corp.
The main opposition candidate, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, a former justice minister, has pledged to restructure the nation’s debt if he wins.
The electoral authority extended voting by two hours to
9 pm local time on May 26. A woman was shot outside a polling station while another voting booth had the wrong paperwork, invalidating over 200 ballots that had been cast, local media reported.
Electoral authority chief Jennifer van Dijk-Silos told local newspaper De Ware Tijd this is the most chaotic election she’s seen in her 20-year career.
The government lifted a nationwide curfew, in place to contain the spread of Covid-19, for May 26 and Tuesday so the election could be held. International observers from the Organization of American States were tested for the virus upon arrival and remained in quarantine until voting began.
Voters were expected to elect new members of a 51-seat parliament on May 26 with 17
political parties registered to participate. Parliament will then elect a president.
Investors are pricing in a high likelihood of default on nearly $700 million of overseas debt whoever wins. The nation’s dollar bonds due 2026 have slumped deep into distressed territory, trading at just 29 cents on the dollar from about 87 cents in March.
Drillers suspect Suriname may have significant oil deposits off its coast after Apache Corp made a major discovery there this year. Neighbouring Guyana is in the process of becoming an oil producer, as it starts to tap massive offshore fields that are estimated to hold 8 billion barrels of crude.
Suriname’s government has a $23 million coupon due at the end of June and “had to go to the sofa, lift every single pillow and find pennies” to make an April coupon payment, said Nathalie Marshik, emerging market analyst for Stifel Financial Corp. “Everybody is going to be checking with their trustee on June 30 to see whether or not it happened.”
S&P Global Ratings said in April there is a one-in-three probability of the nation defaulting over the next 12 months.