People's National Congress

The People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Guyana led by Aubrey Norton. The party currently holds 31 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape, the PNCR is a multi-ethnic organization. It is the main component of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition with the Alliance for Change (AFC). History The PNC was formed in 1957 by the faction of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) led by Forbes Burnham that had lost the general elections earlier in the year. In 1959 it absorbed the United Democratic Party. The PNC won 11 seats in the 1961 elections, which saw the PPP win a majority. In the 1964 elections the PNC won 22 of the 53 seats and despite receiving fewer votes than the PPP, it was able to form the government in coalition with the United Force, with Burnham becoming Prime Minister. During the 1960s, the PNC was allied with Eusi Kwayana's Black Nationalist African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), until the organization broke with the PNC in 1971 on government corruption issues, and reinvented itself as a multi-ethnic pro-democracy movement to later become the Working People's Alliance. The PNC remained in power following suspected fraudulent elections in 1968, 1973 and 1980. Desmond Hoyte became PNC leader and President following Burnham's death in 1985. The party won another fraudulent election in 1985, but allowed free and fair elections to be held in 1992, in which they were defeated by the PPP/C. The PNC lost elections in 1997 and in 2001 as the PNC/R. Following Hoyte's death in 2002 he was succeeded as party leader by Robert Corbin. The party went on to contest and lose the 2006 election as part of the PNCR-One Guyana (PNCR-1G) coalition. Prior to the 2011 election it formed the A Partnership for National Unity APNU) alliance with several smaller parties. Although the opposition APNU and AFC won more seats than the PPP/C, the leader of the largest party automatically became President, meaning PPP/C leader Donald Ramotar.