The Legislature was the parliament 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 ...

between 1961 and 1964. A

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 ...

body, it consisted of an appointed

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and an elected Legislative Assembly.

History

A new constitution was promulgated on 18 July 1961, replacing the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

Legislative Council with the Legislature. The new body consisted of a 13-member Senate and a 36-member Legislative Assembly.Historical information events and dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006
Parliament of Guyana The 13 members of the Senate were nominated, with eight nominated by the ruling party, three by the opposition and two by the

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 ...

.The Constitutional Conference of (1960)
Guyana.org Of the 36 Legislative Assembly members, 35 were elected in single-member constituencies, and the elected MPs then elected a Speaker.

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 ...

to the new Legislature were held on 21 August 1961. Both houses convened for the first time on 5 October 1961, when members elected Rahman Gajraj as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and

Ashton Chase Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

as President of the Senate. Further constitutional amendments in 1964 scrapped the Legislature, replacing it with a unicameral

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

. The Legislature was dissolved on 25 September 1964.

References

{{Authority control British Guiana Historical legislatures Defunct bicameral legislatures 1961 establishments in British Guiana 1964 disestablishments in British Guiana