National holiday: Republic Day, 23 February (1970)
Constitution: 6 October 1980
Legal system: based on English common law with certain admixtures of
Roman-Dutch law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: Executive President Janet JAGAN (since December 1997); replaced Samuel HINDS head of government: Prime Minister Samuel HINDS (since December 1997) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president, responsible to the legislature elections: president elected by the majority party in the National Assembly after legislative elections which must be held within five years; legislative elections last held 15 December 1997 (next to be held NA 2002); prime minister appointed by the president
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (65 seats, 53 popularly elected; members serve five-year terms) elections: last held on 15 December 1997 (next to be held by March 2003) election results: percent of vote by party-PPP 54%, PNC 41%, AFG 1%, TUF 1%; seats by party-PPP 36, PNC 25, AFG 2, TUF 2
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Judicature
Political parties and leaders: People's Progressive Party (PPP),
People's National Congress (PNC), Hugh Desmond HOYTE; For a Good and
Green Guyana (GGG), Hamilton GREEN; Alliance for Guyana (AFG), Rupert
ROOPNARINE; Democratic Labor Movement (DLM), Paul TENNASSEE; People's
Democratic Movement (PDM), Llewellyn JOHN; National Democratic Front
(NDF), Joseph BACCHUS; The United Force (TUF), Manzoor NADIR; National
Republican Party (NRP), Robert GANGADEEN; Guyana Labor Party (GLP);
Guyana Democratic Party (GDP), Asgar ALLY; Guyanese Organization for
Liberty and Democracy Party (GOLD), Anthony MEKDECI
Political pressure groups and leaders: Trades Union Congress (TUC); Guyana Council of Indian Organizations (GCIO); Civil Liberties Action Committee (CLAC) note: the latter two organizations are small and active but not well organized
International organization participation: ACP, C, Caricom, CCC, CDB,
ECLAC, FAO, G-77, IADB, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ISO
(subscriber), ITU, LAES, NAM, OAS, OIC (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO