“Somohardjo needlessly dreams of seat in Wanica”

“The political party Pertjaja Luhur (PL) which is led by Paul Somohardjo will find it very difficult to get 1 parliamentary seat in the Wanica District,” Hardeo Ramadhin told Times of Suriname. The political analyst evidently based his analysis on the numbers from the general elections of 2015.

In 2015 the PL ‘entered’ the elections under the wings of the V7 alliance. The statistics indicate that PL’s candidate, Raymond Sapoen, got 5,559 votes in the Wanica District. This was not enough to get 1 seat in Parliament. The PL reportedly needed 8,000 votes to get 1 seat. The PL nevertheless got 1 seat due to the fact that it had formed an alliance with other political parties. Chandrikapersad Santokhi (VHP) whose name was on top of the list of V7 candidates in Wanica had 17,812 votes. These votes made it possible for Santokhi and the person whose name was second on the list, Raymond Sapoen (PL), to each get a seat in Parliament. The PL reportedly plans to fly solo during the elections of 2020 but the face of the PL in the Wanica District, Raymond Sapoen, has left the party which means that it will be extremely difficult for the PL to get a seat with a newcomer on its list for Wanica. Paul Somohardjo made it clear that he sees no reason to be afraid of Wanica during the next elections. He pointed out that the PL is growing and that it has enough candidates to get Suriname out of the economic crisis thanks to the party’s rejuvenation. Somohardjo claims that the PL candidate got a seat in Wanica because the supporters remained loyal to the PL. “And they are still loyal to the PL. I am not afraid of Wanica like the other parties because I know that the PL’s supporters will keep supporting us. We are certain that we will once again get seats in Wanica at the upcoming elections,” said Somohardjo.