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 28 November 2011. The result was a victory for the

People's Progressive Party/Civic 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 ...

, which won 32 of the 65 seats.Guyana governing party's Donald Ramotar wins election
BBC News, 1 December 2011 Thus even though the combined parliamentary opposition, consisting of the

A Partnership for National Unity A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is a political alliance in Guyana. History The APNU was formed in July 2011 in order to contest the 2011 general elections,Commonwealth Secretariat (2012)l. ''Guyana National and Regional Elections: 28 N ...

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 (the largest single party) who assumed the presidency, and not

David A. Granger David Arthur Granger (born 15 July 1945) 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 Com ...

of the PNCR (which heads the opposition).

Electoral system

The 65 members of the National Assembly were elected by

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

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 two groups; 25 members were elected from the 10 electoral districts based on the

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, and 40 elected from a single nationwide constituency.Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group - GUYANA NATIONAL AND REGIONAL ELECTIONS, 28 November 2011
/ref> Seats were allocated using the

Hare quota The Hare quota (sometimes called the simple, ideal, or Hamilton quota) is the number of voters represented by each legislator in an idealized system of proportional representation where every vote is used to elect someone. The Hare quota is eq ...

. 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 presidential election itself was won by the candidate of the list having a plurality.

Presidential candidates

The ruling

nominated Donald Ramotar, the party's general secretary and advisor to outgoing President

Bharrat Jagdeo Bharrat Jagdeo (born 23 January 1964) is a Guyana, Guyanese politician who has been serving as Vice President of Guyana since 2020, in the administration of President of Guyana, President Irfaan Ali. He had previously also held the office from 19 ...

. A Partnership for National Unity (an alliance of the

People's National Congress Reform The People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Guyana led by Aubrey Norton. The party currently holds 31 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly. In Guyana's ethnically divided ...

, the

Guyana Action Party The Guyana Action Party (GAP) is a left-wing political party in Guyana representing the indigenous Amerindian population. History The GAP was established in January 1989 as Guyanese Action for Reform and Democracy (GUARD).Tom Lansford (2014) ' ...

and the Working People's Alliance)About APNU
APNU nominated

, a former commander of the

Guyana Defence Force The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is the military of Guyana, established in 1965. It has military bases across the nation. The Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force is always the incumbent President of Guyana. The branches include the Army, Air F ...

. The Alliance for Change did not join the APNU, and opted to run alone, fielding party leader

Khemraj Ramjattan Khemraj Ramjattan (born 12 October 1960) is a Guyana, Guyanese politician and one of the founders of Alliance for Change (Guyana), Alliance for Change. From May 2015 to August 2020, he served as Minister of Public Security (Guyana), Minister of ...

as its presidential candidate.

The United Force United Force (UF) is a conservative and economically liberal political party in Guyana. It currently has no representation in the National Assembly and is led by Marissa Nadir. History Established on 5 October 1960 by Peter D'Aguiar, and was in ...

nominated Peter Persaud as its presidential candidates following a leadership dispute.

Police protection

Election day was declared a national holiday and troops patrolled the streets in order to prevent violence as had happened in previous elections.

Results

By region

Aftermath

The PPP/C won for the fifth straight time, but with a minority government. PPP/C candidate Donald Ramotar was elected President, but the opposition parties won a majority in the National Assembly.

References

{{Guyanese elections Elections in Guyana

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...