1957 British Guiana general election

1957 British Guiana general election

←  1953 12 August 1957 1961  →
14 seats in the Legislative Council 8 seats needed for a majority
Registered	212,518
Turnout	55.79%
First party Second party   Leader Cheddi Jagan Forbes Burnham Party PPP-Jaganite PPP-Burnhamite Seats won 9 3 Popular vote 55,552 29,802 Percentage 47.51% 25.49%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Lionel Luckhoo John Carter Party NLF UDP Seats won 1 1 Popular vote 13,465 9,564 Percentage 11.51% 8.18%
Premier before election None Elected Premier Cheddi Jagan PPP

General elections were held in British Guiana on 12 August 1957. ^[1] The result was a victory for the faction of the People's Progressive Party led by Cheddi Jagan, who remained Prime Minister. ^[2]

Campaign

A total of 55 candidates contested the elections, including six independents. The National Labour Front was the only party to run a candidate in every Legislative Council seat, with the two factions of the PPP both contesting 13 seats. The United Democratic Party (UDP) contested eight seats and the Guiana National Party one. ^[3]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Progressive Party (Jaganite)	55,552	47.51	9	–
	People's Progressive Party (Burnhamite)	29,802	25.49	3	–
	National Labour Front	13,465	11.51	1	New
	United Democratic Party	9,564	8.18	1	New
	Guiana National Party	199	0.17	0	New
	Independents	8,357	7.15	0	–4
Total		116,939	100.00	14	–10
Valid votes		116,939	98.63
Invalid/blank votes		1,625	1.37
Total votes		118,564	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		212,518	55.79
Source: GECOM

Elected members

Constituency	Member	Party
Berbice River	Ajodha Singh	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Central Demerara	Balram Singh Rai	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Demerara-Essequibo	Ram Karran	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Demerara River	Fred Bowman	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Eastern Berbice	Cheddi Jagan	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Eastern Demerara	Edward Balkaran Beharry	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Essequibo River	Brindley Benn	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Georgetown Central	Forbes Burnham	People's Progressive Party (Burnham)
Georgetown North	Andrew Leonard Jackson	People's Progressive Party (Burnham)
Georgetown South	Jainarine Singh	People's Progressive Party (Burnham)
New Amsterdam	Rudy Kendall	United Democratic Party
North Western District	Stephen Campbell	National Labour Front
Western Berbice	Sheik Mohamed Saffee	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Western Essequibo	Janet Jagan	People's Progressive Party (Jagan)
Source: Parliament of Guyana

Aftermath

After the elections, the Burnhamite faction of the PPP merged with the UDP to form the People's National Congress. ^[1]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p354 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6
2. "The British Declassified Files on British Guiana - 1958-1964".
3. 1957 Elections Archived 2015-06-22 at the Wayback Machine GECOM