1997 Guyanese general election

General elections were held in Guyana on 15 December 1997.^[1] The result was a victory for the People's Progressive Party/Civic, which won 29 of the 53 seats. Voter turnout was 88.4%.^[1]

1997 Guyanese general election

← 1992 15 December 1997 2001 →
53 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly 33 seats needed for a majority
Registered	461,481
Turnout	88.42%
First party Second party   Candidate Janet Jagan Desmond Hoyte Party PPP/C PNC Seats won 34 26 Seat change 2 5 Popular vote 220,667 161,901 Percentage 55.26% 40.55% Swing 1.81pp 1.76pp
Results by district
President before election Sam Hinds PPP/C Elected President Janet Jagan PPP/C

Electoral system

The National Assembly had 65 members; 53 elected by proportional representation in a nationwide constituency, 10 appointed by the Regional Councils elected on the same date as the national members, and 2 appointed by the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs, an umbrella body representing the regional councils.^[2] These were the last elections to feature that electoral system, as the electoral law was amended in February 2001 ahead of the elections in March that year.^[3]

The President was elected by a first-past-the-post double 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.^[2]

Results

Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
					Elected	Appointees	Total	+/–
	People's Progressive Party/Civic	Janet Jagan	220,667	55.26	29	5	34	+2
	People's National Congress	Desmond Hoyte	161,901	40.55	22	4	26	–5
	United Force	Manzoor Nadir	5,937	1.49	1	0	1	0
	Working People's Alliance–Guyana Labour Party	Rupert Roopnarine	4,783	1.20	1	0	1	0
	Guyana Democratic Party	Asgar Ally	2,528	0.63	0	1	1	New
	Good and Green Guyana	Hamilton Green	1,552	0.39	0	0	0	New
	Justice for All Party	Chandra N. Sharma	1,265	0.32	0	0	0	New
	God Bless Guyana	Hardatt Persaud	314	0.08	0	0	0	New
	National Independent Party	Saphier Husain	258	0.06	0	0	0	New
	National Democratic Front	Joseph Bacchus	105	0.03	0	0	0	0
Independents					–	2	2	+2
Total			399,310	100.00	53	12	65	0
Valid votes			399,310	97.86
Invalid/blank votes			8,747	2.14
Total votes			408,057	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			461,481	88.42
Source: Nohlen, IPU, Guyana Elections Commission, OAS