President Jennifer Simons personally congratulated the Nationale Partij Suriname (NPS) on Tuesday evening on its 80th anniversary. The congratulations carry special political significance because Simons is not only head of state but also chair of the Nationale Democratische Partij (NDP), a party that has stood opposite the NPS for much of recent political history. Today, both parties together form the core of the Simons–Rusland government.
The NPS was founded on 29 September 1946, making it one of Suriname’s oldest political parties still active. The party has held government responsibility during various periods and played a prominent role in the country’s constitutional development.
Simons said she found it special that she was able to address the party precisely as it reached this milestone. “Eighty years is indeed no small thing. Everyone who knows and has functioned in politics knows that a party that can endure for eighty years is rooted in society,” the president said.
From political opponents to governing partners
Simons’ presence and words also carry historical significance. After the NDP entered party politics in the second half of the 1980s, the NDP and NPS stood directly opposed to each other during various periods. In the 1987 elections, for example, the NPS was part of the Front voor Democratie en Ontwikkeling, while the NDP participated as a separate political force. In later periods too, both parties regularly found themselves on different sides of the political field.
That political relationship changed drastically after the elections of 25 May 2025. The NDP formed a new coalition together with, among others, the NPS. Jennifer Simons subsequently became president and NPS chair Gregory Rusland vice-president. At their election, the cooperation between the NDP and NPS was also described from De Nationale Assemblée (Suriname’s parliament) as a breakthrough of historic proportions.
Simons herself referred to that changed relationship on Tuesday evening. “We have often stood opposite each other and that is part of politics. And today we work together, NPS,” she said.
Her congratulations thus marked not only the NPS’s 80th anniversary, but also a new chapter in the relationship between two parties that for decades held important, but often opposing, positions in Surinamese politics.
The president concluded her message with a reference to the shared responsibility the parties now bear. “We are going to make Suriname a better country. Congratulations.”
