Guianese Socialist Party

The Guianese Socialist Party (French: Parti socialiste guyanais, PSG) is a political party in the French overseas région of French Guiana, in South America.

Guianese Socialist Party

Parti socialiste guyanais
General SecretaryMarie-Josée Lalsie[1]
FounderJustin Catayée
Founded1956 (1956)
IdeologyDemocratic socialism
Political positionCentre-left to left-wing
National Assembly
1 / 577
Senate
1 / 348
European Parliament
0 / 74
Guianese Assembly (fr)
0 / 51

History

It was founded in 1956 by Justin Catayée, beforehand the founder of the Guianese federation of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). It is a separate party, not to be confused with the departmental federation of the French Socialist Party. For instance, the PSG endorsed the overseas list of Europe Ecology – The Greens, not the PS one, in the 2004 European elections.[2]

The PSG candidate Gabriel Serville won one of the two parliamentary seats for French Guiana at the French National Assembly in 2012, the second one was held in 2007-2017 by a non-PSG deputy, Chantal Berthelot, endorsed by various parties, among whom the PSG.

The PSG was until 2010 a major party in the regional council of French Guiana, when it fell from 17 seats to one out of 31. It controls since then only the Cayenne municipality. The PSG didn't compete as such for the December 2015 first Guianese Assembly elections after the merger of the department and the region, and the coalition list it supported, headed by deputy Chantal Berthelot from another left-wing party, got only 8.49% and was eliminated at the first round.[3][4]

Rodolphe Alexandre, then PSG first alderman in Cayenne, was excluded from the party in January 2008 for presenting a list against the incumbent PSG mayor. He won the 2008 municipal election and became mayor, then won the 2010 regional elections and became president of the Regional Council, likewise for the 2015 Guianese Assembly.

Electoral results

French legislative elections

French Guiana sends two deputies in Paris since 1988, beforehand only one. The electoral districts borders were considerably modified before the 2012 elections.

YearElectoral
district		PSG candidate% of votes
(first round)		% of votes
(second round)
2002[5]1Joseph Nicaise15.58%eliminated
2002[5]2
2007[6]1Antoine Karam16.82%eliminated
2007[6]2none[note 1]--
2012[7]1Gabriel Serville28.23%54.70 %
2012[7]2none[note 2]-
20171Gabriel Serville29.77 %51.33 %
20172none[note 3]--
20182 [note 4]David Riché10.08 %eliminated

Guianese Assembly elections

For the first elections to the Guianese Assembly in December 2015, the PSG did not compete as such but on a common list Cultiver la Guyane led by the deputy Chantal Berthelot of the party To the Left in Guiana (AGEG)(fr). The list got 8.49% of the votes in the first round, under the 10% threshold needed to access to the second round.[4] Only two lists could compete for the second round and both their leaders refused any merger with lists that had got between 5% and 10% for the first round, thus eliminating from the new assembly the PSG, but also all the other parties hitherto represented in one or both previous councils: AGEG, Walwari (Christiane Taubira's party), MDES and LR.[8]

Regional elections
Year% of votesSeats
198642.215/31
199239.616/31
199828.111/31
200422.517/31
2010[9](6.14)[note 5]1/31

Office holders

Deputies

Single electoral district

Two districts

General councillors

French Guiana had a General Council like any other French department from 1946 until January 1, 2016 when it was replaced by the Guianese Assembly. The 19 general councillors were elected for six years but elections took place every three years for half of the cantons.

PSG councillorsyears in officepresidencyother office(s)
Antoine Abienso1985-1998Mayor of Maripasoula (1989-1996)
Henri Agarande1964-1976Senator (1978-1980)
Alex Alexandre2001-2015Alderman in Cayenne (?-?)
M. Aron1955-1961
Étienne Barrat1982-1985
Etienne-Yves Barrat1982-1988
Albéric Benth[note 7]2004-2015
Elie Castor1976-1996President (1979-1982, 1985-1994)Deputy (1981-1993),
Mayor of Sinnamary (1977-1996)
Jean Catayée1976-2001Alderman in Cayenne (?-?)
M. Catherine1958-1964
René Clervaux1988-1994
Claude Djani[note 8]2011-2015
Jules Gaye1955-1964
René-Amédée Gustave2004-2011
Léopold Héder1964-1978President (1970-1973)Deputy (1962-1967),
Senator (1971-1978),
Mayor of Cayenne (1965-1978)
Gérard Holder1979-1998Mayor of Cayenne (1978-1995)
Antoine Karam1985-2015President of the Regional Council (1992-2010),
Municipal councillor in Cayenne (1977-2002)
Senator (2014-)
Jacques Lony1964-1982President of the Regional Council (1980-1982)
Georges Othily[note 9]1979-1985)Senator (1989-2008),
Regional councillor (1982-2010),
President of the Regional Council (1982-1992),
Mayor of Iracoubo (1995-2001)
Stéphan Phinéra-Horth1998-2001President (1994-1998)Municipal councillor in Cayenne (?-?)
Raymond Tarcy1970-1982, 1985-1994Senator (1980-1989),
Mayor of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (1971-1983)
Marie-Claude Verdan1994-2008Regional councillor (?-?)

Mayors of Cayenne
  • Léopold Héder (March 1965 - June 1978)[note 10]
  • Gérard Holder (June 1978 - June 1995)
  • Jean-Claude Lafontaine (June 1995 - March 2008)
  • Marie-Laure Phinéra-Horth (April 2010 -)[note 11]

Other mayors

There are 22 municipalities in French Guiana, eleven of whom had at least once since 1971 a PSG mayor, seven, including Cayenne, still had one after the 2014 municipal elections.

Notes
  1. Chantal Berthelot, 23.22%, was an independent candidate supported by several left-wing parties, among whom the GSP and the Guianese Federation of the PS, she was elected at the second round
  2. Chantal Berthelot, 38.17%, was once again an independent candidate supported by several left-wing parties, among whom the GSP and the Guianese Federation of the PS, she was elected at the second round
  3. Chantal Berthelot, 19.45%, was once again an independent candidate supported by several left-wing parties, among whom the GSP and the Guianese Federation of the PS, she was eliminated at the first round
  4. the 2017 election was cancelled
  5. the list had to merge with other left-wing ones for the second round
  6. deceased during his term on June 22, 1962
  7. rattached to the PSG group
  8. rattached to the PSG group
  9. He quit the PSG in 1989 and founded Democratic Forces of Guiana (FDG), close to Modern Left
  10. deceased on June 9, 1978
  11. former PSG member, took office as miscellaneous left in 2010 as the then mayor Rodolphe Alexandre - also a former PSG member, excluded from the party two months before the March 2008 municipal elections after he announced his candidacy against Mayor Lafontaine - became president of the Regional council, she reaffiliated to the PSG and was elected as such at the head of a left-wing coalition in 2014
  12. joined the PSG in ?
  13. left the PSG in ?

References
  1. since 2008, cf.(in French) Sophie Donzenac, "Et de trois pour Marie-José Lalsie!", Guyane 1ère, 11 March 2013
  2. "Le parti socialiste guyanais soutient les Verts aux Européennes Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine", Guyane Ecologie, 11 June 2004
  3. (in French) "Le Parti Socialiste Guyanais et A Gauche en Guyane en ordre de bataille pour la CTG", Guyane 1ère, 27 September 2015
  4. Official results of the December 2015 Guianese Assembly elections, Interior Ministry website
  5. Official results of the 2002 legislative election in French Guiana, Interior Ministry website
  6. Official results of the 2007 legislative election in French Guiana, Interior Ministry website
  7. Official results of the 2012 legislative election in French Guiana, Interior Ministry website
  8. "La région Guyane - Les résultats du second tour des élections régionales", Le Monde
  9. Official results for the 2010 regional elections, Interior Ministry website
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