Yearbook 2006
Guyana. According to
CountryAAH, President Bharrat Jagdeo won over his opponent
Robert Corbin in the August 28 presidential election with
just over 54% of the vote and was thus elected for a second
term. A tense political situation in the country for several
years has created fears of unrest in connection with the
election. Already in April, opposition members resigned from
the National Electoral Commission on the grounds that the
government had manipulated it to secure victory in the
August elections. After the election was postponed three
weeks, four workers were murdered on Kaieteur News, one of
the country's largest newspapers supporting President
Jagdeo, and the editor-in-chief hinted at political motives.
Despite this, the election was conducted without incidents
and actually became the calmest in many years. Jagdeo's
election results matched very closely with the proportion of
Indians in G., who usually vote for Jagdeo's Party PPP/C
(People's Progressive Party/Civic). However, a new
multi-ethnic party, AFC (Alliance for Change), managed to
get together 10% of the vote, which showed that there is no
longer an ethnic vote in G. The blacks, who make up 43% of
the population, usually vote for Corbin's PNCR (People's),
for example. National Congress Reform), but the party got
far less share of votes than that. In the congressional
elections held simultaneously, PPP/C's representation was
increased from 34 to 36 seats. PNCR's
dropped from 27 to 22 and AFC gained five places. That PPP/
C won despite political scandals and a poor economy was
primarily attributed to PNCR's lack of election work.
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