The House of Assembly was the legislature of

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

in the 1950s and 1960s.

History

The House of Assembly was established as a result of the Waddington Commission, which led to the enactment of constitutional reforms in 1952; universal suffrage was introduced and the Legislative Council was to be replaced by the House of Assembly. The new House had 28 members; 24 members elected in single member constituencies, a speaker appointed by the Governor and three ex officio members (the Chief Secretary, the Attorney General and the Financial Secretary). The term of the final Legislative Council was extended in order to allow preparations for

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

under the new system on 27 April 1953.Historical information events and dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006
Parliament of Guyana The elections were won by the People's Progressive Party (PPP) led by

Cheddi Jagan Cheddi Berret Jagan (22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 199 ...

, who became Prime Minister, whilst Eustace Gordon Woolford was appointed Speaker of the new House. Its first meeting was held on 18 May. After assuming power Jagan embarked on implementing a series of policies that involved radical social reform, mainly directed at the colonial oligarchy. The British colonial authorities sent in troops in response to the alleged threat of a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

revolution.

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Alfred Savage Sir Alfred William Lungley Savage (5 May 1903 – 5 March 1980) was the Governor of Barbados in 1949–51, and the colonial Governor of British Guiana in 1953–55. On 9 October, 1953, upon instruction from Winston Churchill to stop what the Col ...

suspended the constitution on 9 October (only 133 days after it had come into force); Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p354 the House of Assembly was prorogued, before being dissolved on 21 December. A wholly appointed Interim Legislative Council was established in place of the Assembly. Constitutional reforms in 1964 led to the re-establishment of the House of Assembly as a replacement for the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, which had been created in 1961. The new House was a 54-seat body, consisting of 53 elected members and the Speaker. The

were held on 7 December 1964 using proportional representation to allocate the seats, and although the PPP won the most seats, the People's National Congress (PNC) and United Force were able to form a coalition government with a working majority. Despite losing the elections, Jagan refused to resign as Prime Minister, and had to be removed by

Richard Luyt Sir Richard Edmonds Luyt (8 November 1915 – 12 February 1994) was the colonial Governor of British Guiana in 1964–66. He installed Forbes Burnham of the People's National Congress (PNC) as premier of a coalition government with a small bu ...

, with

Forbes Burnham Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980 and then as its f ...

replacing him.Nohlen, p363 The new House met for the first time on 31 December, although the meeting was boycotted by the PPP. Aubrey Percival Alleyne of the PNC was elected Speaker, and subsequently vacated his seat, allowing Philip Duncan of the PNC to take his place. On 26 May 1966 the country became independent under the name of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. A new constitution came into force, replacing the House of Assembly with the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

List of members

1953

1964–1966

References

{{reflist Political history of Guyana 1953 establishments in British Guiana 1953 disestablishments in British Guiana 1964 establishments in British Guiana 1966 disestablishments in Guyana Historical legislatures Defunct unicameral legislatures British Guiana