PARAMARIBO – Parliament still has not lowered the deposit that political parties must pay in order to participate in the general elections of May 2025. MP Ronnie Asabina (BEP) recently expressed his concern regarding this delay and fears that the deposit issue is deliberately not being addressed in order to keep certain political parties out of the election race.

 The Constitutional Court had rejected the deposit hike of one thousand percent and had placed the ball in parliament’s court which means that it is up to parliament to lower the deposit to a reasonable figure. “The deposit hike has been rejected by the Constitutional Court but no attempts have been made to amend the law,” said MP Asabina who made it clear that people must not resort to political schemes to delay the process until it is too late for the Constitutional Court to intervene. MP Asabina urges parliament to pass a bill that is on the same page as the ruling of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court ruled that the deposit hike was unconstitutional because it has created a financial barrier that keeps political parties out and because it is in violation of the principles of inclusion and equality…[+]