2006 Guyanese general election

2006 Guyanese general election

← 2001 28 August 2006 2011 →

All 65 seats in the National Assembly
33 seats needed for a majority
Registered492,369
Turnout69.34%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Bharrat Jagdeo Robert Corbin Raphael Trotman
Party PPP/C PNCR-1G AFC
Seats won 36 22 5
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 5 Increase 5
Popular vote 183,887 114,608 28,366
Percentage 54.67% 34.07% 8.43%
Swing Increase1.71pp Decrease7.76pp New

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Candidate Chandra N. Sharma Manzoor Nadir
Party GAPROAR TUF
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Decrease2 Steady
Popular vote 4,249 2,694
Percentage 1.26% 0.80%
Swing Decrease2.05pp Increase0.07pp

Results by district

President before election

Bharrat Jagdeo
PPP/C

Elected President

Bharrat Jagdeo
PPP/C

General elections were held in Guyana on 28 August 2006. They were initially scheduled for 4 August, but were moved to 28 August after President Jagdeo dissolved the National Assembly on 2 May.[1] The result was a victory for the ruling People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), which won 36 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly.

Electoral system

[edit]

The 65 members of the National Assembly were elected by closed list proportional representation in two groups; 25 members were elected from the 10 electoral districts based on the regions, and 40 elected from a single nationwide constituency.[2] Seats were allocated using the Hare quota.

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]

There were a total of 1999 polling places, open from 06:00 to 18:00,[3] and election day was declared a national holiday to encourage voter turnout.[4]

Campaign

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The PPP/C of incumbent President Bharrat Jagdeo was ahead in the opinion polls and was expected to keep its majority in the National Assembly.[5] The main campaign topics were crime, drugs and the economy.[4]

Conduct

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Observation teams from the Organization of American States (OAS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth Observer Group, and the Carter Center attended the elections. Troops patrolled the streets in order to prevent violence.[5]

Results

[edit]
PartyPresidential
candidate
Votes%Seats
ConstituencyTop-upTotal+/–
People's Progressive Party/CivicBharrat Jagdeo183,88754.67152136+2
People's National Congress Reform–One GuyanaRobert Corbin114,60834.0791322–5
Alliance for ChangeRaphael Trotman28,3668.43145New
Guyana Action PartyROARChandra N. Sharma4,2491.26011–2
The United ForceManzoor Nadir2,6940.80011+1
Justice for All PartyPaul Hardy2,5710.760000
Total336,375100.002540650
Valid votes336,37598.52
Invalid/blank votes5,0511.48
Total votes341,426100.00
Registered voters/turnout492,36969.34
Source: EAB, Guyana News and Information

Elected members

[edit]
Alliance for Change Guyana Action Party–ROAR People's National Congress Reform People's Progressive Party/Civic The United Force
Source: The Official Gazette

Aftermath

[edit]

By virtue of being the leader of the party winning the most seats, PPP/C leader Bharrat Jagdeo was re-elected as President. He was sworn in on 9 September.[4] The National Assembly met for the first time on 28 September, with Ralph Ramkarran re-elected as Speaker.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Guyana General Election Results 2006 Caribbean Elections
  2. ^ a b Co-operative Republic of Guyana: Legislative Elections of 28 August 2006 Psephos
  3. ^ Guyana New and Information - Election 2006 Guyana.org
  4. ^ a b c d Elections in 2006 IPU
  5. ^ a b Markey, Patrick (2006-08-29). "Guyana's Jagdeo set to win poll". The Irish Times. p. 7.