The Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Legislature in British Guiana between 1961 and 1964.
History A new constitution was promulgated on 18 July 1961, replacing the unicameral Legislative Council with the legislature. The new body consisted of a 13-member Senate and a 36-member Legislative Assembly.Historical information events and dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006 Parliament of Guyana Whilst the 13 members of the Senate were nominated, the Legislative Assembly was elected, and consisted of 35 members elected in single-member constituencies, and a Speaker elected by the elected MPs.
Elections to the new Legislature were held on 21 August 1961. The People's Progressive Party (PPP) won 20 seats, the People's National Congress (PNC) won 11 and the United Force four. Both houses convened for the first time on 5 October 1961, when members elected Rahman Baccus Gajraj as Speaker.
Although the PPP had only received 1.6% more of the vote than the PNC, it won almost double the number of seats. This resulted in mass demonstrations led by the PNC, a general strike and severe inter-racial violence. A few weeks after the elections the British authorities intervened by sending in troops and the Governor declared a state of emergency.Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p355
Further constitutional amendments in 1964 scrapped the legislature, replacing it with a unicameral House of Assembly elected by proportional representation. The legislature was dissolved on 25 September 1964.
List of members People's Progressive PartyPeople's National CongressThe United ForceCheddi JaganForbes BurnhamPeter d'AguiarBrindley BennRudy KendallStephen CampbellRam KarranJohn CarterRandolph Emanuel CheeksBalram Singh RaiEugene Francis CorreiaTeddy MelvilleRanji ChandisinghNeville James BissemberCharles Ramkissoon JacobWilliam Alexander BlairFenton Harcourt Wilworth RamsahoyeRudolph Stanislaus Stanley HughEarl Maxwell Gladstone WilsonJohn Gabriel JoaquinGeorge BowmanRobert James JordanLawrence Everil McRansford MannClaude Alfonso MerrimanSheik Mohamed SaffeeHenry Milton Shakespeare WhartonGeorge Lakey RobertsonMoses BhagwanJohn Bernard CaldeiraVictor DownerAbdul Maccie HamidGeorge McLinton HenryDerek Chunilall JaganGoberdhan Harry LallMohamed Shakoor
References