After the results of the 2011 general elections and the consequences for the mathematics of the National Assembly had become clear, a fairly sizeable constituency of Guyanese roundly applauded the verdict of the electorate. In fact, in the public response to the outcome of the 2011 poll, the retention of the presidency by the ruling party was far less politically significant than the fact that the opposition had secured a majority in the National Assembly.
What made the 2011 one-seat majority significant was the fact that, for the first time in the country’s post-independence history, no single political party could ride roughshod over the National Assembly. The electorate had spoken for an altered political culture that embraced the relevance of parliamentary debate,