General elections were held in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

on 15 December 1980.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p363 The result was a victory for the People's National Congress, which won 41 of the 53 directly-elected seats. However, the PNC's victory was the result of fraud as the government had direct control of the elections.Nohlen, p355-359 Voter turnout was 82.3%.

Electoral system

The elections followed the adoption of a new constitution which changed the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

from a ceremonial post to an executive one and enlarged the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. In addition to the existing 53 members elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in a nationwide constituency, the National Assembly was expanded to include ten members appointed by the regional councils, created under the new constitution and elected on the same date as the national members, and two appointed by the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs, an umbrella body representing the regional councils also created by the new constitution."Guyana's new Constitution and the elections of 1980: A case of people's power?", Rajendra Chandisingh
/ref> The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

was elected by a

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

double simultaneous vote Double simultaneous vote (DSV) is an electoral system in which multiple offices – such as the president and members of a legislature – are elected through a single vote cast for a party. It can be combined with other electoral systems; in Ur ...

system, whereby each list nominated a presidential candidate and the candidate heading the list that received the most votes was elected president.

Results

References

{{Guyanese elections

1980 in Guyana Elections in Guyana 20th century in Guyanese politics December 1980 in South America