General elections were held in Guyana on 28 November 2011.[1] The result was a victory for the People's Progressive Party/Civic, which won 32 of the 65 seats.[2] Thus even though the combined parliamentary opposition, consisting of the A Partnership for National Unity coalition (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC), managed to secure an absolute majority of 33 seats, as they had not run as a single list it was Donald Ramotar of the PPP/C (the largest single party) who assumed the presidency, and not David A. Granger of the PNCR (which heads the opposition).
Electoral system
The 65 members of the National Assembly were elected by closed listproportional representation in two groups; 25 members were elected from the 10 electoral districts based on the regions, and 40 elected from a single nationwide constituency.[3] Seats were allocated using the Hare quota.
The President was elected by a first-past-the-postdouble simultaneous vote system, whereby each list nominated a presidential candidate and the presidential election itself was won by the candidate of the list having a plurality.[3]
The PPP/C won for the fifth straight time, but with a minority government. PPP/C candidate Donald Ramotar was elected President, but the opposition parties won a majority in the National Assembly.