Next Guyanese general election explained

Country:Guyana
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:yes
Majority Seats:33
Seats For Election:All 65 seats in the National Assembly
Previous Year:2020
Previous Election:2020 Guyanese general election
Election Date:By December 2025
Party1:People's Progressive Party/Civic
Candidate1:Irfaan Ali
Image1:Irfaan Ali in 2020.jpg
Last Election1:50.69%, 33 seats
Party2:PNCR
Candidate2:Aubrey Norton
Last Election2:22 seats
President
Before Election:Irfaan Ali
Before Party:People's Progressive Party/Civic
Party3:AFC
Image3:3x4.svg
Candidate3:Nigel Hughes
Last Election3:9 seats
Map Size:300px
Alliance2:APNU
Alliance1:N/A
Alliance3:N/A
Seats Needed2: 11
Seats Needed3: 24

General elections are constitutionally mandated to be held in Guyana by December 2025 to elect members of the National Assembly and the President of Guyana. The incumbent President is Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who was elected in the March 2020 elections. He is eligible to seek a second and final term, with the constitution limiting presidents to two terms.

Background

In the 2020 elections, the ruling APNU + AFC coalition was defeated by the PPP/C, although the election results were not finalised for four months due to attempts to rig the results in favour of the governing parties. The PPP/C gained one seat, giving it a majority of 33 seats in the 65-member National Assembly, while the APNU + AFC was reduced from 33 to 31 seats, with the remaining seat taken by an alliance of the Liberty and Justice Party, A New and United Guyana and The New Movement. As PPP/C got the most votes, its presidential candidate, Irfaan Ali won the presidency.

Electoral system

The 65 members of the National Assembly are elected using closed list proportional representation from a single nationwide 40-seat constituency and 10 sub-national constituencies with a total of 25 seats. Seats are allocated using the Hare quota.[1]

The President is elected by a first-past-the-post double simultaneous vote system, whereby each list nominates a presidential candidate and the presidential election itself is won by the candidate of the list having a plurality.[2]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2135_B.htm Electoral system
  2. http://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/guyana/constitution-politics Guyana : Constitution and politics