Electoral alliances (which may have allowed residual votes of the combined parties to obtain an extra seat) were banned in 2019.

[6] As a new parliament elects the president of the country after it sits, incumbent President Dési Bouterse (who had been ruling since 2010) and his NDP were hoping to pull off an election win in order to re-elect him for a third term, thereby retaining his national immunity from arrest for homicide charges he was convicted of by a Surinamese military court in 2019 regarding his involvement in the December murders.

[7] Europol also had an active warrant out for his arrest since 16 July 1999 for cocaine trafficking,[8] although Suriname does not extradite its own citizens.

[13] Robert-Gray van Trikt, the Governor of the Central Bank, was remanded in custody on suspicion of conflicts of interest and falsification of loan dates.

[14] In April, the Public Prosecutor's Office filed a request with the National Assembly to indict Minister of Finance Gillmore Hoefdraad with the aim of prosecuting him.

[15] The Inter-American Development Bank also forecast a 5.6% decline in the economy due to COVID-19,[16] and during the same time, prices for oil (a well of which was recently discovered off the country's coast) sharply fell, causing a loss of interest from investors.

The government also passed a law on 22 March temporarily blocking foreign exchange transactions as a result of the value of the Surinamese dollar falling.

On 28 May Ronnie Brunswijk of the opposition General Liberation and Development Party stated that NDP-affiliated people, including Dési Bouterse's grandson, came to the building where votes were being counted and attempted to steal boxes of votes and start fires.

[24] The VHP had its best election result since 1973, more than doubling its previous number of seats and becoming the largest party in the National Assembly.

President Dési Bouterse's NDP lost more than a third of its seats, which was partly attributed to the country's economic problems and the criminal charges brought against him.

[28] On 1 July Paul Somohardjo, Chairman of Pertjajah Luhur and coalition partner of the new government, was diagnosed with COVID-19.

[37] They were inaugurated on 16 July on the Onafhankelijkheidsplein in Paramaribo in a ceremony held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.