The Popular Party was a political party in

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 ...

History

The party was established in 1926 by a group of middle class liberals, and was led by

Nelson Cannon Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and

Anthony Webber Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

.James G Rose (1992
British colonial policy and the transfer of power in British Guiana, 1945-1964
King's College London The party's General Council was largely black middle class professionals, and attracted support from the trade unions led by

Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow OBE (18 December 1884 – 14 May 1958) is notable as the founder of the modern trade union movement in Guyana. Background Critchlow was born in Georgetown, Guyana. Little is known of his early childhood but in his ...

. Running on a platform of economic development and campaigning against British colonial policies, the party received most of the black vote in the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

later that year,New constitution of 1928
Guyana.org winning twelve of the 14 elected seats. A a result of the party's success in the elections, the British authorities made constitutional changes in 1928, replacing the

Combined Court The Combined Court was the legislature of British Guiana until 1928. In its final form, it consisted of a sitting of the Court of Policy together with the elected Financial Representatives. History The Combined Court was established by the Dutch ...

with the Legislative Council. The new Council had a majority of appointed members, giving the conservative white population a majority over the Popular Party, who opposed the reforms. As a result of disquiet about the reforms, it was suggested that the Popular Party candidates should be unopposed at the

1930 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1930. Asia * 1930 Persian legislative election * 1930 Madras Presidency legislative council election * 1930 Japanese general election Europe * 1930 Finnish parliamentary election * 1930 Norwegian parl ...

. Ultimately eight of their candidates were returned unopposed, and despite a few serious challenges, only one seat changed hands. The party also won seats in the

1935 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1935. Asia * 1935 Philippine legislative election * 1935 Philippine presidential election Europe * 1935 Czechoslovakian parliamentary election * 1935 Czechoslovak presidential election * 1935 Danish Fo ...

.Constitutional changes (1941-1947)
Guyana.org

References

{{Guyanese political parties Defunct political parties in Guyana Political parties established in 1926 1926 establishments in British Guiana