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 9 December 1985.

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 42 of the 53 directly-elected seats. However, the elections were marred by fraud and the People's Progressive Party and

Working People's Alliance The Working People's Alliance is a democratic socialist political party in Guyana. It was a consultative member of Socialist International until 2005. History The WPA was established in 1974, as an alliance of the Working People's Vanguard Part ...

withdrew on election day.Nohlen, p367 Voter turnout was 73.8%.

Electoral system

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 ...

had 65 members; 53 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, 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."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

1985 in Guyana Elections in Guyana 20th century in Guyanese politics December 1985