Guyana Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name: Cooperative Republic of Guyana

Typt¹ republic within Commonwealth

Capital: Georgetown

Political subdivisions: 6 government districts

Legal system: based on English common law with certain admixtures of RomanDutch law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Republic Day, 23 February

Branches: Executive President, who appoints and heads a cabinet; unicameral legislature (53-member National Assembly) elected by proportional representation every five years

Government leader: Hugh Desmond HOYTE, President (since August 1985); Hamilton GREEN, Prime Minister (since August 1985)

Suffrage: universal adult over age 18

Elections: last held in December 1985

Political parties and leaders: People’s National Congress (PNC), Hugh Desmond Hoyte; People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Cheddi Jagan; Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Rupert Roopnarine, Clive Thomas, Walter Omawale, Eusi Kwayana, Moses Bhagwan, Kenneth Persand; United Force (UF), Feilden Singh; Vanguard for Libera tion and Democracy (VLD, also known as Liberator Party), Ganraj Kumar, Dr. J. K Makepeace Richmond; Democratic Labor Movement (DLM), Dr. Paul Tennassee

Voting strength: (1985 election, unofficial returns) 78% PNC (42 seats), 16% PPP (8 seats), 4% UF (2 seats), 2% WPA (I seat)

Communists: est. 100 hardcore within PPP; top echelons of PPP and PYO (Progressive Youth Organization, militant wing of the PPP) include many Communists, but rank and file is conservative and non-Communist; small but unknown number of orthodox Marxist-Leninists within PNC, some of whom are PPP turncoats

Other political or pressure groups: Trades Union Congress (TUC); Working People’s Vanguard Party (WPVP); Guyana Council of Indian Organizations (GCIO); Civil Liberties Action Committee (CLAC); the latter two organizations are small and active but not well organized

Member of: CARICOM, CDB, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IB A, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IRC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS (observer), PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO

NOTE: The information regarding Guyana on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guyana 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guyana 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.