1997 Guyanese general election

← 1992

15 December 1997

2001 →

53 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly
33 seats needed for a majority

Registered

461,481

Turnout

88.42%

	First party	Second party

Candidate	Janet Jagan	Desmond Hoyte
Party	PPP/C	PNC
Seats won	34	26
Seat change	2	5
Popular vote	220,667	161,901
Percentage	55.26%	40.55%
Swing	1.81pp	1.76pp

Results by district

President before election

Sam Hinds
PPP/C

Elected President

Janet Jagan
PPP/C

Politics of Guyana


Constitution
Executive President (list) Irfaan Ali Vice President Prime Minister (list) Mark Phillips
Legislature National Assembly Speaker: Manzoor Nadir Leader of the Opposition
Administrative divisions Regions Neighborhood Councils
Elections Recent elections General: 2015 2020 next Political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Hugh Todd Diplomatic missions of / in Guyana Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Guyana portal Other countries
v t e

General elections were held in Guyana on 15 December 1997.^[1] The result was a victory for the People's Progressive Party/Civic, which won 29 of the 53 seats. Voter turnout was 88.4%.^[1]

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/5
Views:
173 731
19 773
145 491
1 210
24 117

Transcription

Electoral system

The National Assembly had 65 members; 53 elected by proportional representation in a nationwide constituency, 10 appointed by the Regional Councils elected on the same date as the national members, and 2 appointed by the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs, an umbrella body representing the regional councils.^[2] These were the last elections to feature that electoral system, as the electoral law was amended in February 2001 ahead of the elections in March that year.^[3]

The President was elected by a first-past-the-post double simultaneous vote system, whereby each list nominated a presidential candidate and the presidential election itself was won by the candidate of the list having a plurality.^[2]

Results


Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Elected	Appointees	Total	+/–
	People's Progressive Party/Civic	Janet Jagan	220,667	55.26	29	5	34	+2
	People's National Congress	Desmond Hoyte	161,901	40.55	22	4	26	–5
	United Force	Manzoor Nadir	5,937	1.49	1	0	1	0
	Working People's Alliance–Guyana Labour Party	Rupert Roopnarine	4,783	1.20	1	0	1	0
	Guyana Democratic Party	Asgar Ally	2,528	0.63	0	1	1	New
	Good and Green Guyana	Hamilton Green	1,552	0.39	0	0	0	New
	Justice for All Party	Chandra N. Sharma	1,265	0.32	0	0	0	New
	God Bless Guyana	Hardatt Persaud	314	0.08	0	0	0	New
	National Independent Party	Saphier Husain	258	0.06	0	0	0	New
	National Democratic Front	Joseph Bacchus	105	0.03	0	0	0	0
Independents					–	2	2	+2
Total			399,310	100.00	53	12	65	0

Valid votes			399,310	97.86
Invalid/blank votes			8,747	2.14
Total votes			408,057	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			461,481	88.42
Source: Nohlen, IPU, Guyana Elections Commission, OAS

References

^ ^a ^b Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p363 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ ^a ^b "Guyana's new Constitution and the elections of 1980: A case of people's power?", Rajendra Chandisingh
^ IPU Parline

v t e Elections and referendums in Guyana
General	1892 1897 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1926 1930 1935 1947 1953 1957 1961 1964 1968 1973 1980 1985 1992 1997 2001 2006 2011 2015 2020 Next
Regional	1980 1985 1992 1997 2001 2006 2011 2015 2020
Municipal	1950 1952 1970 1994 2016 2018 2023
Referendums	1978

This page was last edited on 7 January 2024, at 23:24