Suriname · Constitution
Constitution of the Republic of Suriname
Approved by referendum in September 1987, restoring civilian rule after the 1980 coup, and amended in 1992 to remove the military's constitutional role. It vests legislative power in the National Assembly, makes the President both head of state and government elected by the Assembly, and provides for a Constitutional Court, which was finally installed in 2020 after a thirty-three-year delay.
The constitutional text
Approved by referendum in September 1987, restoring civilian rule after the 1980 coup, and amended in 1992 to remove the military's constitutional role. It vests legislative power in the National Assembly, makes the President both head of state and government elected by the Assembly, and provides for a Constitutional Court, which was finally installed in 2020 after a thirty-three-year delay.
Separation of powers
Unitary, with ten districts headed by appointed district commissioners and elected district councils. Indigenous and Maroon communities in the interior are governed by traditional authorities whose land rights are not yet fully codified, despite repeated Inter-American Court rulings requiring it.
Found something out of date on Suriname · Constitution?
Corrections are reviewed against the primary source before anything changes.