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People's National Congress Reform | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | PNC (1957-1997) PNC/R (1997-2001) PNCR (2001-present) |
Leader | Aubrey Norton [1] |
Chairman | Shurwayne Holder [1] |
Founded | 1957 |
Split from | People's Progressive Party United Democratic Party |
Headquarters | Congress Place, Sophia, Georgetown, Guyana |
Ideology | Historical: |
Political position | Centre-left [ citation needed ] to left-wing [ citation needed ] |
National Assembly | 21 / 65 |
Party flag | |
Website | |
www.pncr.org | |
The People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Guyana led by Aubrey Norton. [3] The party currently holds 31 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape, the PNCR is a multi-ethnic organization. [4]
It is the main component of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition with the Alliance for Change (AFC).
The PNC was formed in 1957 by the faction of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) led by Forbes Burnham that had lost the general elections earlier in the year. In 1959 it absorbed the United Democratic Party. The PNC won 11 seats in the 1961 elections, which saw the PPP win a majority. In the 1964 elections the PNC won 22 of the 53 seats and despite receiving fewer votes than the PPP, it was able to form the government in coalition with the United Force, [5] with Burnham becoming prime minister. During the 1960s, the PNC was allied with Eusi Kwayana's Black Nationalist African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), until the organization broke with the PNC in 1971 on government corruption issues, and reinvented itself as a multi-ethnic pro-democracy movement to later become the Working People's Alliance. [6]
The PNC remained in power following suspected fraudulent elections in 1968, 1973 and 1980. Desmond Hoyte became PNC leader and president following Burnham's death in 1985. The party won another fraudulent election in 1985, [7] but allowed free and fair elections to be held in 1992, in which they were defeated by the PPP/C. The PNC lost elections in 1997 and in 2001 as the PNC/R. [8] [9] Following Hoyte's death in 2002 he was succeeded as party leader by Robert Corbin. The party went on to contest and lose the 2006 election as part of the PNCR-One Guyana (PNCR-1G) coalition. Prior to the 2011 election it formed the A Partnership for National Unity APNU) alliance with several smaller parties. Although the opposition APNU and AFC won more seats than the PPP/C, the leader of the largest party automatically became president, meaning PPP/C leader Donald Ramotar. [10]
The APNU formed a joint list with the AFC for the 2015 elections, known as the APNU+AFC, in which they defeated the PPP/C, winning 33 of the 65 seats. PNCR leader David A. Granger subsequently became president. [11] In March 2020, President David A. Granger narrowly lost the snap elections, following Granger's government loss of a vote of no confidence back in 2018. Granger refused to accept the results, but eventually five months later, Irfaan Ali of the People's Progressive Party/Civic was sworn in as the new president because of allegations of fraud and irregularities. [12]
The Guyana Youth and Student Movement is the youth arm of the party.
The National Congress of Women is the women’s arm of the party.
The Biennial Congress (BC) is the sovereign body of the party, as it has been throughout the party’s history. Congress debates reports submitted by the Central Executive Committee and resolutions on contemporary issues.
The General Council (GC) undertakes strategic oversight of the policy development between Congresses. This is chaired by the party chairman and is made up of member of the CEC, MPs, NCW, GYSM and Officers of regional party groups. The General Council meets each quarter.
The People’s National Congress Reform’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) is the governing body of the Party. The Party Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairman and fifteen (15) members of the Executive Committee are elected at the Biennial Congress. The General Secretary is appointed by the Leader, from among the fifteen elected members. Ten members are co-opted to the Central Executive by the Leader and other elected members. In addition each of the Party’s 10 Regions elects a representative to the Central Executive Committee, and the Chairpersons of the Youth and Women arms of their representatives are also Central Executive Committee Members.
Party Committees are elected annually at the following levels.
The basic unit of the party is the group, which consists of no less than twelve (12) members. The voice of the party membership on party policies is heard through their interaction at all of these levels, through the year and also at the Annual Conferences.
The New Nation is a weekly newspaper reflecting the views of the party, which is widely circulated locally and overseas.
Election year | Seats | Position | Government | Head of Government | |
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No. of seats won | +/– | ||||
1957 | 3 / 14 | 3 | 2nd | PPP-Jaganite | Cheddi Jagan |
1961 | 11 / 35 | 7 | 2nd | PPP | |
1964 | 22 / 53 | 11 | 2nd | PNC | Forbes Burnham |
1968 | 30 / 53 | 8 | 1st | PNC | |
1973 | 37 / 53 | 7 | 1st | PNC | |
1980 | 41 / 53 | 4 | 1st | PNC | |
1985 | 42 / 53 | 1 | 1st | PNC | Desmond Hoyte |
1992 | 23 / 53 | 19 | 2nd | PPP/C | Cheddi Jagan |
1997 | 22 / 53 | 1 | 2nd | PPP/C | Janet Jagan |
2001 | 27 / 65 | 5 | 2nd | PPP/C | Bharrat Jagdeo |
2006 | 22 / 65 | 8 | 2nd | PPP/C | |
2011 | 26 / 65 | 4 | 2nd | PPP/C Minority | Donald Ramotar |
2015 | 33 / 65 | 7 | 1st | APNU+AFC | David A. Granger |
2020 | 31 / 65 | 2 | 2nd | PPP/C | Irfaan Ali |
Guyana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Guyana is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President, advised by a cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the National Assembly of Guyana. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Bharrat Jagdeo is a Guyanese politician who has been serving as Vice President of Guyana since 2020, in the administration of President Irfaan Ali. He had previously also held the office from 1997 until 1999, during the presidency of Janet Jagan. Jagdeo subsequently served as the President of Guyana from 11 August 1999 to 3 December 2011. He also holds a number of global leadership positions in the areas of sustainable development, green growth and climate change.
Hugh Desmond Hoyte was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first Executive President of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
Elections in Guyana take place within the framework of a multi-party representative democracy and a presidential system. The National Assembly is directly elected, with the nominee of the party or alliance that receives the most votes becoming President.
The People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is a major political party in Guyana. As of 2020, the party holds 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly and forms the government. It has been the ruling party in the past as well, most recently between 1992 and 2015. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape, the PPP/C is a multi-ethnic organization.
Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar is a Guyanese politician who was President of Guyana from 2011 to 2015. He was also the General Secretary of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) from 1997 to 2013.
David Arthur Granger is a Guyanese former politician and retired military officer who served as the ninth president of Guyana from 2015 to 2020. A member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), he previously served as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and as National Security Adviser from 1990 to 1992. He was leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Guyana from 2012 to 2015.
Robert Herman Orlando Corbin is a Guyanese politician who was the Leader of the Opposition People's National Congress (PNC) between 2002 and 2012.
General elections were held in Guyana on 28 November 2011. The result was a victory for the People's Progressive Party/Civic, which won 32 of the 65 seats. Thus even though the combined parliamentary opposition, consisting of the A Partnership for National Unity coalition (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC), managed to secure an absolute majority of 33 seats, as they had not run as a single list it was Donald Ramotar of the PPP/C who assumed the presidency, and not David A. Granger of the PNCR.
Sophia is a ward of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. It's a predominantly Afro-Guyanese community, and one of Georgetown's poorest neighborhoods.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is a political alliance in Guyana.
Early general elections were held in Guyana on 11 May 2015, alongside regional elections as a result of President Donald Ramotar proroguing the National Assembly. The result was a victory for the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) alliance, which won 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly. Following the elections, APNU leader David A. Granger was sworn in as president on 16 May 2015.
Snap general elections were held in Guyana on 2 March 2020. They were called early after the government of President David A. Granger lost a vote of no confidence by a margin of 33–32 on 21 December 2018, the government having held a one-seat majority since the 2015 elections. However, one of its own MPs, Charrandas Persaud of the Alliance for Change (AFC), voted with the opposition. Granger announced on 25 September 2019 that the elections would be held on 2 March 2020.
Joseph F. Harmon is a Guyanese politician who served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2022. He previously served as Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, under the David Granger administration.
Dawn Hastings-Williams is a Guyanese politician. She has been a member of the National Assembly since 2011. She has previously served as Minister within the Ministry of Communities (2015-2017), Minister of Public Affairs (2017–2019), and Minister of State (2019–2020).
General elections are constitutionally mandated to be held in Guyana by December 2025 to elect members of the National Assembly and the President of Guyana. The incumbent President is Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who was elected in the March 2020 elections. He is eligible to seek a second and final term, with the constitution limiting presidents to two terms.
Aubrey Norton is a Guyanese politician serving as Leader of the Opposition and as a member of the National Assembly since April 2022.
The 2023 Guyanese local elections, officially due since 2020, were held on Monday, June 12, 2023, following the latest delay of the officially biennial polls by three years due to lawsuits and vacanies at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) following the fallout and misconduct of the 2020 Guyanese general election and the COVID-19 pandemic. All 1,220 council seats within 610 constituencies across Guyana's 80 local authority areas (LAAs), comprising 70 neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) and 10 municipalities are being contested. GECOM has stated that voting is not required in 291 constituencies in which the ruling People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has won by acclamation due to no other candidates running against them. As a result the PPP/C has retained control and has won allseats in LAAs such as the NDCs of Leguan, La Jalousie/Nouvelle Flanders, Canals Polder, Little Diamond/Herstelling, Ordnance Fort Lands/ No. 38, Kintyre/No. 37 or Borlam, Kilcoy/Hampshire, Port Mourant/John, Bloomfield/Whim, No. 64/No. 74, the municipality of Lethem and has also gained control of the Aranaputa/ Upper Burro Burro NDC. The PPP/C is hoping to win over A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/People's National Congress Reform (PNCR)opposition strongholds, campaigning heavily in Guyana's capital city, Georgetown, which has remained in APNU/PNCR control since independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. Efforts by the PNCR to postpone or cancel the elections via litigation regarding the electoral roll and local government constituency boundaries, were dismissed by Guyana's High Court in the lead-up to these elections, claiming that, these issues are behind its no-contest of 291 constituencies across the 80 LAAs. The opposition Alliance for Change (AFC), the junior coalition partner of the APNU, has boycotted the 2023 local elections over similar concerns.