1878 Surinamese general election

Partial general elections were held in Suriname in March 1878 to elect three of the nine elected members of the Colonial States.

Electoral system

The Colonial States consisted of nine elected members and four appointed by the Governor-General. Elected members served six-year terms, with three members elected every two years. The 1878 elections were to replace the three members elected in 1872,, and. However, none of the three were still members by 1878; van Oorde resigned in September 1872 and was replaced by, Mollinger resigned in 1874 and was replaced by, while Muller resigned in 1876 and was replaced by.
The elections were held using the two-round system, with suffrage restricted to men who paid a tax contribution of 60 Dutch guilders. Voters had multiple votes, and any candidate receiving a number of votes equivalent to over 50% of the valid ballots cast was elected in the first round. If not all seats were filled, a second round was held with twice the number of candidates as seats remaining, who were the candidates who received the most votes but failed to be elected in the first round.

Results

As there were 131 valid ballots cast, candidates required 66 votes to be elected in the first round. Incumbents Barnet Lyon and Salomons, together with, were easily elected in the first round, while van Praag received just 15 votes and lost his seat.

Aftermath

Governor-General reappointed, and as nominated members, together with new member
The newly elected States met for the first time on 14 May 1878, with initially remaining chairman However, he stepped down from the role a month later. He was not replaced for a year, until David Juda became chairman in May 1879.
Busken Huet resigned just two days after the States opened and was replaced by.