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The People's National Congress (PNC) led by Forbes Burnham was returned
in the 1968 elections and remained in power until 1992 (despite repeated documented fraudulent elections). In the 1970s, it
followed a strong socialist line and 80% of the economy was nationalised. These were years of considerable unrest and increasing
economic difficulty, as debt increased and world price for the major exports fell. The People's Progressive Party (PPP), led
by Dr Cheddi Jagan remained in opposition.
Executive presidency was introduced in 1980. In 1985 Burnham died and was
replaced by Desmond Hoyte. In 1988, after discussions with the IMF, the second and more stringent Economic Recovery Programme
began, encouraging foreign investment, privatisation and tight monetary policy. However, social unrest continued, and there
were demands for electoral reform.
The elections due in 1990 were postponed twice, in part because the Commonwealth
observer team invited by Desmond Hoyte's administration reported irregularities in the voters' polls and proposed that certain
preparatory arrangements should be revisited.
When the first free and fair elections were held since independence,
in October 1992, the PPP-Civic coalition, led by Dr Cheddi Jagan, won 53.5% of the vote, giving it 28 seats; the PNC won 23,
TUF and the Working People's Alliance (WPA) one each. The Commonwealth observers described the elections as 'a historic democratic
process' which expressed the people's genuine will. Jagan was sworn in as President.
In March 1997 Jagan suffered
a heart attack and died. Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister in Jagan's PPP-Civic government, became President and Janet Jagan, was
appointed Prime Minister and Vice-President. Mrs Jagan was one of the four founders of the PPP, and had served in two previous
Cabinets.
In the December 1997 elections the PPP-Civic coalition claimed a decisive victory with 56% of the officially-counted
votes. Mrs Jagan became Guyana's first woman President and appointed Hinds Prime Minister.
However, the opposition
PNC refused to accept the declared results. Increasingly violent demonstrations followed and were only ended when, in mid-January
1998, CARICOM brokered an agreement between the PPP-Civic and PNC. Under the Herdmanston Accord, CARICOM would undertake an
audit of the election results, to be conducted by a team selected by the then CARICOM chair, Dr Keith Mitchell, the Prime
Minister of Grenada. A broad-based Constitutional Reform Commission would be established, to report to the National Assembly
within 18 months and there would be new elections within 18 months after presentation of the report.
The CARICOM audit
team reported that although the management of the count left much to be desired, the results of their recount varied only
marginally from that of the final results declared by the Chief Elections Officer. But the PNC remained dissatisfied and violent
demonstrations broke out again. A settlement was finally reached at the CARICOM summit in St Lucia in July 1998, under which
the PNC agreed to take their seats in the National Assembly.
President Janet Jagan resigned after suffering a mild
heart attack in August 1999 and was succeeded by Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Constitutional Reform Commission's
proposals were enacted in 2000. These included establishment of a permanent elections commission and new national identity
cards. The 2001 elections were to be the first to be held under a new electoral system. In the general election of March 2001,
the ruling PPP-Civic coalition won 34 seats (53% of the vote), Jagdeo retaining the presidency and Desmond Hoyte of PNC-Reform
(27 seats and 42%) leading the opposition. Voter turnout was nearly 90%. Although the election result was seen by international
observers to reflect the will of the people, in the weeks following the elections, opposition supporters continued to mount
violent demonstrations expressing doubts about the accuracy of the poll.
These demonstrations were only allayed when
in April 2001 Jagdeo and Hoyte initiated a dialogue among parliamentarians and civil society on constitutional and electoral
reform. However, this dialogue broke down in March 2002 over differences between PPP-Civic and PNC-Reform on implementation
of what had been agreed. The deadlock continued until late August 2002 when, at the government's request, the Commonwealth
Secretary-General appointed a special envoy, former Governor-General of New Zealand Sir Paul Reeves, to facilitate resumption
of the dialogue between the opposing parties. During 2003 constructive dialogue proceeded between President Jagdeo and the
new Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin, political tension eased, and opposition members returned to parliament.
In
April 2004, the Leader of the Opposition called off structured dialogue with President Jagdeo and boycotted parliament.
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