In a decisive outcome announced shortly after midnight on August 16, Revelino Eijk’s Vernieuwingsbeweging (VNB, or Renewal Movement) has secured a third consecutive landslide victory in leadership elections for the Suriname Police Bond (SPB), winning a two-thirds majority of votes to retain control of the union for the next five years.
Final vote tallies compiled by the election commission chaired by Rudie Steinberg confirmed 883 votes for Eijk’s Team VNB, compared to just 442 votes for the opposing Team De Haan, led by Angelo Waterberg. A clear lead for VNB emerged within minutes of vote counting beginning, with the gap holding steady around 300 votes for most of the process before expanding further as more ballots were counted, leaving no doubt of the movement’s victory long before official results were confirmed. This marks the third straight election win for VNB, while De Haan’s ticket made its second bid for union leadership.
Notable attendees at the election included former SPB president Poetini Atompai, now a member of parliament for Suriname’s National Party (NPS), who handed the union presidency over to Eijk in 2025 after winning a seat in the National Assembly.
Speaking after his confirmation of victory, the re-elected Eijk emphasized that his administration will continue the work of prior terms, while outlining a bold agenda of targeted changes for Suriname’s police officers in the coming five-year term. A top priority for the union will be preparing for the growing impact of Suriname’s expanding oil and gas sector, which Eijk says will place unprecedented new demands on the national police force.
“Oil and gas development is coming to the police, and we have to be ready for it,” Eijk stated. The growth of the sector will require increased police deployment and higher standards of professional policing, he explained, noting that the union will present its policy recommendations to relevant authorities, while also pushing for appropriate compensation and benefits to match the added workload for officers.
Eijk stressed that the union’s work extends far beyond wage negotiations, covering a broad range of issues tied directly to officers’ working conditions, health, and safety. One pressing concern the union has already developed a formal plan to address is inadequate safety at police facilities across the country, including improper storage of seized chemical substances, deteriorating conditions in many cell blocks, and a lack of emergency preparedness measures. “If a fire broke out in one of these cell blocks, there isn’t even an evacuation plan in place,” Eijk pointed out.
Mental and physical health support for officers will also be elevated as a core priority in the new term, according to Eijk. Police personnel regularly encounter traumatic events in the line of duty, he noted, adding that many officers develop chronic health conditions at relatively young ages, and some die prematurely shortly before or after retirement. To address these gaps, the union is proposing the establishment of a dedicated expertise center to support police officers, alongside increased investment in specialized training for emerging threats the force increasingly faces, including cybercrime and other new forms of criminal activity that require advanced specialized skills.
“These next five years are going to be very challenging for our police officers,” Eijk said, adding that the union will share all its finalized policy proposals with police leadership and competent government authorities for implementation.
The 65-year-old Eijk, who is only a few years away from retirement, revealed that he initially considered stepping down before running for another term. However, after widespread requests from union members to continue in the role, he ultimately chose to put his name forward again. “I thought about it for a long time, and at a certain point I decided it was the right thing to do. I will give all my strength to this work,” he said.
With its decisive landslide win, VNB now has a fresh five-year mandate to advance its policy agenda from the leadership of the Suriname Police Union, delivering on commitments to improve working conditions and support for the country’s law enforcement community.