Guyana's oldest political party, the PPP, was founded in 1950 by Cheddi Jagan as a means to push for independence. After the 1961 elections, however, the party came to represent almost exclusively the Indo-Guyanese community. A long-time Marxist-Leninist, Jagan declared in 1969 that the PPP was a communist party and advocated state ownership of all industry. The PPP won elections in 1953, 1957, and 1961, but its leftist policies led to internal unrest and opposition from the British colonial authorities (see Preindependence Government, 1953-66 , ch. 1). The PPP had ten National Assembly seats after the 1980 election and in the 1985 elections won eight seats.

Data as of January 1992

NOTE: The information regarding Guyana on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guyana People's Progressive Party information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guyana People's Progressive Party should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.