Remembering the great Dr Cheddi Jagan — Andrew Forsythe — Opinion

Remembering the great Dr Cheddi Jagan

March 27, 2026·6 min read

Dear Editor,

Dr. Cheddi Jagan former President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, a son of the soil, a great leader, would always be remembered. Dr. Jagan was born on the 22nd March 1918 in Port Mourant Berbice-Corentyne.

When you look at the history of this great leader, who started the political fight for this beautiful country we live in, he is undoubtfully and rightfully the father of this nation. He grew up in Corentyne where he attended the Primary school there, before leaving to attend Queen’s College at the age of 14 years between years 1933 to 1936. He then migrated to the United States of America where he attended the Howard University, and the North Western University where he was qualified as a Doctor in Dental Surgery.

During his time in the USA, he met Janet Jagan of Chicago Illinois in December 1942 and on the 5th August 1943, they got married. Dr. Jagan and Janet Jagan got two children, Cheddi Jagan Jnr. and Nadira. Cde Dr. Cheddi returned with his wife to then British Guiana and set up his dental clinic in Georgetown. During that period while practicing dentistry, he got involved in the trade union movement and politics fighting for workers’ rights and in 1946 he established the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) along with his wife Janet, Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbart.

This movement was also supported by Sydney King. Dr. Jagan then campaigned as a candidate for the East Coast Demerara constituency and was successfully being elected a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1947. He and his team then decided to form a political party. At that time, Forbes Burnham was included in the team and on the 1st January, 1950 the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was birthed with Dr. Jagan as leader, Forbes Burnham as Chairman and Janet Jagan as Secretary. This was Guyana’s first large mass-base political party formed. In the 1953 the PPP contested the British Guiana elections and had won the majority of votes. However, Dr. Jagan and his team of Ministers only lasted for 133 days when the British suspended the constitution putting them out of government.

However, the constitution was restored in 1957, the PPP again won the majority of votes and was allowed to form the government. At the 1961 elections the mighty PPP won again, however at that elections Dr. Jagan became the Premier and Minister of Development and planning.

During those times, both the British and the Americans were not comfortable with Dr. Jagan and Guyana being too friendly with Russia because that was the cold war period. So, they were thinking of a method that could be used instead of the first past the post system that could put the PPP in a difficult position in winning 1964 elections, so they introduced a Proportional Representation system. However, at the 1964 elections, although the PPP had acquired the majority of the votes at those elections, the British allowed the People’s National Congress – Forbes Burnham Party and the United Force – led by Peter D’aguiar to join forces together using the proportional representation system to form the government and putting the PPP out of power.

From 1964 t0 1992 some 28 years Dr. Jagan served as Opposition Leader, because all the elections from 1973 to 1985 were massively rigged in favor of the PNC. Based on our constitution, every 5 years Guyana holds elections; however, no elections were held in 1990 because Dr. Jagan rejected the voters list of electors due the thousands of PPP supporters were not on the lists, also Dr. Jagan called for the counting of the votes at the place of polls. Desmond Hoyte was President at that time did not want to accept the counting of votes at the polling place. However, due to international pressure and the introduction of the Carter Centre^[1] he was able to overcome that barrier.

Dr. Jagan knew that if the votes were counted at the polling place, he would have won the 5th October 1992 elections, which he did and became President of Guyana. The first free and Fair elections since 1964. Dr. Cheddi Jagan died on the 6th March 1997. Both Dr. Jagan and Janet Jagan were Presidents of Guyana. He would always be remembered for his great leadership and a man who had fought for the working class and to restore democracy to Guyana.

Andrew Forsythe

References

Carter Center underlines need for electoral reforms - Stabroek News — www.stabroeknews.com ↩

Carter Center underlines need for electoral reforms - Stabroek News

www.stabroeknews.com · 2025-09-04

Carter Center underlines need for electoral reforms - Stabroek News Following its elections observation mission here, the Carter Center yesterday said that voting was smooth and it has emphasized the need for urgent reforms to the electoral system and administration. The Center’s key recommendation is the depoliticization and reform of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). It urged ... structures for the country’s election management body. This reform is seen as vital to increasing GECOM’s independence, ... statement from the Center notes that the current structure, based on an “outdated” formula, has resulted in a polarized ... public access to GECOM’s deliberations and insufficiently publicized tabulation procedures undermined public confidence. The Center urges that complete written polling and tabulation procedures be made available for future elections and that the new parliament work to ensure greater citizen access to public information, including campaign and party finance data.5 Regarding the voter list, the Center reiterated its persistent concerns about its size and integrity. It is imperative, the statement says, for GECOM to implement procedures for removing deceased voters and to look to international experience for removing those who have died overseas. The Center also suggests an independent test of the voter list ... to register to vote, the Center said. The Carter Center called for further constitutional and legal reforms to protect Guyana’s democracy. It welcomed the establishment of the CRC and encouraged it to engage with the Guyanese people to reform the election system, strengthen ... people. The statement also provided a detailed account of the pre-election period. It noted several issues, including the size of the voter list, a lack of a level playing field for some aspects of the campaign, and a court case about ballot access. The observers rated the conduct of procedures on Elections day positively at every station, with no significant irregularities reported. The Center also noted social media concerns about Commonwealth citizens voting, which is permitted under Guyana’s current laws. At the time of the statement’s publication, tabulation was being finalized, with GECOM implementing a new tabulation process. Carter Center observers have assessed this new process positively and remain deployed to ensure a ... In a post-election press conference yesterday at the Atlantic Meeting Room, New Pegasus Tower, Jason Carter of the Carter Center addressed concerns regarding the fairness of Guyana’s electoral process, stating that the Center’s ... conduct. The Carter Center’s preliminary statement, issued on August 19, explicitly called out these concerns. Carter explained ... In a separate point during the press conference, Carter addressed the lack of all of the official declarations at the time, offering confidence in the ongoing tabulation process. He described the process as “cumbersome” but “transparent” and expressed belief that the final results will be trusted by the public. The declarations were made later in the day. Carter noted that the Carter Center had been present in every single tabulation centre. According to their observations, 97% of the reports indicated that tabulation was being conducted correctly and in accordance with the law. He acknowledged that while the process takes time, it appears to be proceeding as it should. He also said that the Center’s final report, to be released in the coming weeks or months, may include recommendations ... process is what is stipulated by Guyanese law. The Carter Center, in its

Other references

22. The October 1992 elections - Guyana News and Information

www.guyananews.org

two main presidential candidates were Desmond Hoyte of the PNC and Cheddi Jagan of the PPP/Civic. ... in doubt, it would not make any difference if the final results indicated the PPP/Civic had won the election; the PNC could claim the results should not be declared official because it would have been impossible to certify the official ... the area. Immediately after the polls closed, the polling officer at each polling station, in the presence of party ... determined before 1:00 a.m. on 6 October (just 7 hours after polls had closed) that the PPP/Civic had won the national elections by a wide margin. The quick count projected that the PPP/Civic would receive 54.8 percent of the vote and the PNC 40.8 percent. This information was communicated to the Chairman of the Elections Commission but it was not released to the public. Declaration of results The official results came in much slower from the Elections Commission. By daybreak of 6 October, only 19,293 votes or roughly 5 percent of the eligible votes from 61 polling ... apparently did not know that they had to send their results directly to the Commission. Naturally, the halt in the ... indicating a PNC victory. However, the President Carter and his Council quickly stepped in to calm these fears. Early ... Elections Commission. Later than day, President Carter told a press conference that while the delay in reporting ... PPP was going to win the election, and made a public statement to that effect at 3:30 p.m. President Carter later that ... and that President Hoyte and Dr. Jagan had named representatives to plan for the transition. That evening, Chairman Rudy Collins announced that with 95 percent of the ballots counted, the PPP/Civic had won the presidency with about 54 When all the votes were finally counted, the final results showed the PPP/Civic wining 162,058 or 53.4 percent of the valid votes, while the PNC received a total of 128,286 or 42.3 percent of the votes. The other parties received the following amounts: WPA - 6,068 (2 percent); TUF - 3,183 (1.2 percent); DLM - 1,557; URP - 1,343; PDM - 298; UJI - 134; NRP - 114; UWP - 77; and NDF - 68. Out of a total electorate of 384,195, a total of 308,852 (or 81 percent) were cast ... Based on these results, the 53 elected seats in the Parliament were allocated thus: PPP/Civic - 28; PNC - 23; WPA -1; ... Altogether, in the ten regions, the PPP/Civic won a total of 99 seats, the PNC 91, the WPA 8, TUF 6 and the URP 1. Jagan sworn in as President On 9 October, the leader of the PPP/Civic, Dr. Cheddi Jagan took the oath as President, thus becoming Guyana's first freely elected Head of State. At a ceremony at State House in Georgetown witnessed by ex-president Desmond Hoyte and large numbers of PPP/Civic supporters, President Jagan said: We went to the elections with the slogan: "Time for ... forward together and make into reality our motto: "One People One Nation, One Destiny. For the first time in 28 years Guyana experienced free and fair elections

Sources

Remembering the great Dr Cheddi Jagan in Guyana Times, March 27, 2026
Remembering the great Dr Cheddi Jagan in Kaieteur News, March 27, 2026

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