On April 27, 1953 Guyanese, voting for the first time on the basis of adult suffrage at age 21, gave the PPP 18 seats of the 24 to be filled. It was the historic act of a critical mass of the population. It will be interesting to look back at the political culture of the 1950s before the descent to the day of maximum leaders. The nature and meaning of the 1953 elections will be the topic of the second of the articles I am writing on the people and events in that 1953 watershed year.
On May 22, 1953, the new parliament convened with an address by the head of state Governor Sir Alfred Savage. He praised the advanced constitution which Guyana had achieved. Without adult suffrage, the constitution in 1926 had offered more financial control to the elected members. The country, including most of the PPP leaders had been shocked at the election results.
On June 17 of the same year, the Chief Minister—not Prime Minister—Dr Jagan responded to the Governor’s address. In it he said, “We harbour no illusions about the
