Guyana is a country in South America region. Its Capital city is Georgetown. Population of this country is 736,000 (2008). Surface area of this country is 214,969 sq. km. Currency of this country is dollar. GDP pc growth: 3.3% p.a. 1990–2006 Official language: English Time: GMT minus 4 hours Currency: Guyana dollar (G$) Last Elections: August 2006 Next Elections: 2011 Head of State: President Bharrat Jagdeo Head of Government: The President Ruling Party: People’s Progressive Party–Civic coalition Independence: 26 May 1966 !!History The elections due in 1990 were postponed twice, in part because the Commonwealth observer team invited by President Desmond Hoyte’s administration reported irregularities in the voters’ rolls and proposed that certain preparatory arrangements should be done again. When the elections were held, in October 1992, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)–Civic coalition, led by Dr Cheddi Jagan, won 53.5% of the votes, giving it 28 seats; People’s National Congress (PNC) won 23, TUF (The United Force) 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, Jagan’s US-born widow, 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 only began to be 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 Jagdeo and the new opposition leader, Robert Corbin, political tension eased, and opposition members returned to parliament. During 2004, the constructive dialogue process wavered and the opposition’s parliamentary boycott was resumed for some time, before they returned to parliament on the basis of ‘selective engagement’. In relatively peaceful elections in August 2006, President Jagdeo and the PPP–Civic coalition were returned to power, with 36 seats and 54.6% of the votes, while the PNC Reform–One Guyana coalition took 22 seats and 34% of the votes and the newly constituted Alliance for Change – which enjoys support from East Indians and Afro-Guyanese – five seats and 8.1% of the votes. Commonwealth observers present reported that the results reflected the wishes of the people.