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: President Bharrat JAGDEO (since 11 August 1999);
note - assumed presidency after resignation of President Janet JAGAN
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 following legislative elections, which must be held at
least every five years; elections last held 19 March 2001 (next to
be held by March 2006); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: President Bharrat JAGDEO reelected; percent of
legislative vote - NA%
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (68 seats, 65 elected by popular vote,
1 elected Speaker of the National Assembly, and 2 nonvoting members
appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 19 March 2001 (next to be held March 2006)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
PPP/C 34, PNC 27, GAP and WPA 2, ROAR 1, TUF 1
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Judicature; Judicial Court of Appeal; High Court
Political parties and leaders:
Alliance for Guyana or AFG (includes Guyana Labor Party or GLP and
Working People's Alliance or WPA) [Rupert ROOPNARAINE]; Guyana
Action Party or GAP [Paul HARDY]; Guyana Labor Party or GLP [leader
NA]; People's National Congress or PNC [Robert Herman Orlando
CORBIN]; People's Progressive Party/Civic or PPP/C [Bharrat JAGDEO];
Rise, Organize, and Rebuild or ROAR [Ravi DEV]; The United Force or
TUF [Manzoor NADIR]; Working People's Alliance or WPA [Rupert
ROOPNARAINE]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Civil Liberties Action Committee or CLAC; Guyana Council of Indian
Organizations or GCIO; Trades Union Congress or TUC
note: the GCIO and the CLAC are small and active but not well
organized
International organization participation:
ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, CSN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt,
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC,
ISO (subscriber), ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OIC, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA,
RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTO