General elections were held in British Guiana

British Guiana

British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...

 in 1961. The result was a victory for the People's Progressive Party

People's Progressive Party (Guyana)

The People's Progressive Party is a political party in Guyana led by Bharrat Jagdeo. The party has been in power since the 1992 elections and currently holds 36 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly.-History:...

, whose leader Cheddi Jagan

Cheddi Jagan

Cheddi Berret Jagan was a Guyanese politician who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964, prior to independence. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to 1997.- Biography :The son of ethnic Indian sugar plantation workers, Jagan...

 remained Prime Minister. However, the PPP had only won 1.6% more of the vote than the new People's National Congress

People's National Congress

The People's National Congress is a socialist political party in Guyana led by Robert Corbin. The party currently holds 22 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly.-History:...

, but had received almost double the number of seats. This resulted in mass demonstrations led by the PNC, a general strike and severe inter-racial violence. After a few weeks the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 authorities intervened by sending in troops and the Governor declared a state of emergency.

Following these events, the country's electoral system was changed to use proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

. The first elections

British Guiana general election, 1964

General elections were held in British Guiana on 7 December 1964. They were the first held under proportional representation, and saw the People's Progressive Party win 24 of the 53 directly-elected seats. However, the People's National Congress and United Force were able to form a coalition...

held under the new system took place in 1964.