Guianese Socialist Party


The Guianese Socialist Party is a political party in the French overseas région of French Guiana, in South America.

History

It was founded in 1956 by Justin Catayée, beforehand the founder of the Guianese federation of the French Section of the Workers' International. 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.
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.
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
% of votes
20021Joseph Nicaise15.58%eliminated
20022
20071Antoine Karam16.82%eliminated
20072none--
20121Gabriel Serville28.23%54.70 %
20122none--
20171Gabriel Serville29.77 %51.33 %
20172none--
20182 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. The list got 8.49% of the votes in the first round, under the 10% threshold needed to access to the second round. 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, MDES and LR.

Regional elections

Office holders

Deputies

Single electoral district
Two districts
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
Antoine Abienso1985-1998Mayor of Maripasoula
Henri Agarande1964-1976Senator
Alex Alexandre2001-2015Alderman in Cayenne
M. Aron1955-1961
Étienne Barrat1982-1985
Etienne-Yves Barrat1982-1988
Albéric Benth2004-2015
Elie Castor1976-1996President Deputy,
Mayor of Sinnamary
Jean Catayée1976-2001Alderman in Cayenne
M. Catherine1958-1964
René Clervaux1988-1994
Claude Djani2011-2015
Jules Gaye1955-1964
René-Amédée Gustave2004-2011
Léopold Héder1964-1978President Deputy,
Senator,
Mayor of Cayenne
Gérard Holder1979-1998Mayor of Cayenne
Antoine Karam1985-2015President of the Regional Council,
Municipal councillor in Cayenne
Senator
Jacques Lony1964-1982President of the Regional Council Senator,
Regional councillor,
President of the Regional Council,
Mayor of Iracoubo
Stéphan Phinéra-Horth1998-2001President Municipal councillor in Cayenne
Raymond Tarcy1970-1982, 1985-1994Senator,
Mayor of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
Marie-Claude Verdan1994-2008Regional councillor

Mayors of Cayenne

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.