1964 British Guiana general election

1964 British Guiana general election

←  1961 7 December 1964 1968  →
53 seats in the House of Assembly 27 seats needed for a majority
Registered	247,604
Turnout	96.98%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Cheddi Jagan Forbes Burnham Peter D'Aguiar Party PPP PNC TUF Seats won 24 22 7 Seat change 4 11 3 Popular vote 109,332 96,657 29,612 Percentage 45.84% 40.52% 12.41% Swing 3.21pp 0.47pp 3.97pp
Premier before election Cheddi Jagan PPP Elected Premier Forbes Burnham PNC

General elections were held in British Guiana on 7 December 1964. ^[1] They saw the People's Progressive Party win 24 of the 53 seats. However, the People's National Congress (22 seats) and United Force (7 seats) were able to form a coalition government with a working majority. Despite losing the elections, Prime Minister and PPP leader Cheddi Jagan refused to resign, and had to be removed by Governor Richard Luyt, with Forbes Burnham replacing him. ^[2] Voter turnout was 97.0%. ^[1]

Electoral system

The elections followed constitutional reforms and the re-establishment of the House of Assembly, which had been abolished in 1953, replacing the bicameral Legislature. The House had 54 members; the Speaker and 53 members elected by proportional representation. ^[2] The Speaker was elected from amongst the original elected members, and then gave up their elected seat to be replaced by a member of their own party.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Progressive Party	109,332	45.84	24	+4
	People's National Congress	96,657	40.52	22	+11
	United Force	29,612	12.41	7	+3
	Justice Party	1,334	0.56	0	New
	Guiana United Muslim Party	1,194	0.50	0	New
	Peace, Equality and Prosperity Party	224	0.09	0	New
	National Labour Front	177	0.07	0	New
Total		238,530	100.00	53	+18
Valid votes		238,530	99.34
Invalid/blank votes		1,590	0.66
Total votes		240,120	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		247,604	96.98
Source: Nohlen

Elected members

Member	Party	Notes
Cheddi Jagan	People's Progressive Party
Brindley Benn	People's Progressive Party
Ram Karran	People's Progressive Party
Ranji Chandisingh	People's Progressive Party
Henry Jocelyn Makepeace Hubbard	People's Progressive Party
Charles Ramkissoon Jacob	People's Progressive Party
Cedric Vernon Nunes	People's Progressive Party
Fenton Harcourt Wilworth Ramsahoye	People's Progressive Party
Eugene Martin Stoby	People's Progressive Party
Earl Maxwell Gladstone Wilson	People's Progressive Party
George Bowman	People's Progressive Party
Sheik Mohamed Saffee	People's Progressive Party
Ashton Chase	People's Progressive Party
Moses Bhagwan	People's Progressive Party
John Bernard Caldeira	People's Progressive Party
Abdul Maccie Hamid	People's Progressive Party
Derek Chunilall Jagan	People's Progressive Party
Goberdhan Harry Lall	People's Progressive Party
Yacoob Ally	People's Progressive Party
Lloyd Linde	People's Progressive Party
Joseph Rudolph Spenser Luck	People's Progressive Party
Reepu Daman Persaud	People's Progressive Party
Mohendernauth Poonai	People's Progressive Party
Subhan Ali Ramjohn	People's Progressive Party
Forbes Burnham	People's National Congress	Premier, Minister of Development & Planning
Ptolemy Reid	People's National Congress	Minister of Home Affairs
Neville James Bissember	People's National Congress	Minister of Health and Housing
Eugene Francis Correia	People's National Congress	Minister of Communications
Winifred Gaskin	People's National Congress	Minister of Education, Youth, Race Relations & Community Development
C.M. Llewellyn John	People's National Congress	Minister of Agriculture
Robert James Jordan	People's National Congress	Minister of Forests, Lands and Mines
Rudy Kendall	People's National Congress	Minister of Trade and Industry
Deoroop Mahraj	People's National Congress	Minister without Portfolio
Claude Alfonso Merriman	People's National Congress	Minister of Labour and Social Security
David Brandis deGroot	People's National Congress
William Alexander Blair	People's National Congress
Jagnarine Budhoo	People's National Congress
Charles Frederick Chan-A-Sue	People's National Congress
Oscar Eleazar Clarke	People's National Congress
Royden George Basil Field-Ridley	People's National Congress
John Gabriel Joaquin	People's National Congress
Thomas Anson Sancho	People's National Congress
Rupert Tello	The United Force
James Henry Thomas	People's National Congress
Alex Benjamin Trotman	People's National Congress
Henry Milton Shakespeare Wharton	People's National Congress
Aubrey Percival Alleyne	People's National Congress	Elected speaker and replaced by Philip Duncan
Peter d'Aguiar	The United Force	Minister of Finance
Mohamed Kasim	The United Force	Minister of Works and Hydraulics
Randolph Emanuel Cheeks	The United Force	Minister of Local Government
Stephen Campbell	The United Force	Ministry of Home Affairs
Cyril Victor Too Chung	The United Force
Hari Prashad	The United Force

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p363 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p355