{"id":196149,"date":"2026-10-20T10:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/?p=196149"},"modified":"2026-10-20T00:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T03:17:57","slug":"afonsoewa-doubts-achaibersings-suitability-as-vhp-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/afonsoewa-doubts-achaibersings-suitability-as-vhp-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Afonsoewa doubts Achaibersing’s suitability as VHP chair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NDP member of parliament Silvana Afonsoewa has doubts about the suitability of former Minister of Finance and Planning Armand Achaibersing<\/a> as chairman of the Vooruitstrevende Hervormingspartij (VHP). According to her, leading a political party such as the VHP is no simple task, and the question is whether Achaibersing can withstand the political pressure that comes with the chairmanship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI<\/span> do not know whether he could handle the political pressure,\u201d Afonsoewa said on Sunday in the programme Retrospectie<\/em>. She was responding to Achaibersing\u2019s candidacy, as he has made himself available for the chairmanship of the VHP.<\/p>\n

The NDP member of parliament questioned the political leadership of the former minister. In doing so, she referred to his departure as Minister of Finance and Planning in 2022. \u201cBefore long, he will resign again and leave the chairmanship of the VHP,\u201d Afonsoewa remarked.<\/p>\n

According to her, leading a political party such as the VHP requires different qualities from managing a ministry. She considers the party chairmanship an even more demanding task. \u201cIt is not an easy job to lead the VHP,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n

Afonsoewa praises Santokhi\u2019s political leadership<\/h3>\n

Afonsoewa believes that the VHP needs a chairman who is politically experienced and resilient. In that context, she referred to former party chairman Chandrikapersad Santokhi.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say whatever you want about Chan, but Chan was Chan,\u201d she stated. According to Afonsoewa, Santokhi had the ability to absorb political setbacks and remain standing under pressure. \u201cYou could not easily walk all over him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parliamentarian also pointed to Santokhi\u2019s political stature and the number of votes he obtained during the 2025 elections. According to her, this underscores the prominent position he held within the VHP.<\/p>\n

According to Afonsoewa, Mathoera is also a suitable candidate<\/h3>\n

Notably, Afonsoewa had expected former Minister of Defence and current VHP member of parliament Krishnakoemarie Mathoera to stand as a candidate for the party chairmanship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMathoera has the stature and a certain political career,\u201d she said. At the same time, Afonsoewa doubts whether the VHP is ready for a female party chairman.<\/p>\n

Now that Achaibersing and Asiskumar Gajadien are being considered for the chairmanship, she believes it is important that the party chooses someone with sufficient political experience and leadership qualities.<\/p>\n

Although Afonsoewa is critical of Achaibersing\u2019s candidacy, she does not rule out that the former minister can develop in the position. According to her, it is possible that he will gradually learn the political skills required by the chairmanship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Silvana Afonsoewa doubts Armand Achaibersing’s suitability as chair of the VHP because of his alleged lack of political resilience and experience in party leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":180218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_29234516172805655_1309923202201307":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1158244960706604":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1093738170500407":"","facebook_29234516172805655_108923581283702":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16390],"tags":[16291,20032,18326,24462,16292,20088],"class_list":["post-196149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politiek-sr","tag-key-news","tag-nieuws","tag-politics","tag-silvana-afp","tag-suriname","tag-vhp"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196227,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196149\/revisions\/196227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}