Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally
Union Soudanaise-Rassemblement Démocratique Africain
LeaderMamadou Bamou Touré
FounderModibo Keita
Mamadou Konaté
Founded1945
Dissolved2010
Succeeded byMalian Union for the African Democratic Rally
HeadquartersBamako, Mali
IdeologyAfrican nationalism
Pan-Africanism
African socialism
Political positionLeft-wing
International affiliationAfrican Democratic Rally

The Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally (US-RDA) (French: Union Soudanaise-Rassemblement Démocratique Africain) was a political party in Mali.

History[edit]

The party was formed in 1945 by Mamadou Konaté and Modibo Keita under the name Sudanese Bloc (Bloc Soudanais). The following year, they affiliated themselves with the African Democratic Rally (RDA), the interterritorial coalition of anti-colonial political parties active in French West Africa.

The 1957 elections saw the US-RDA win 57 of the 70 seats. Shortly after the elections, the Union of the Populations of Bandiagara merged into the US-RDA, giving it a total of 64 seats.[1] When Konaté died in 1958, Keita gained full control of the party.

The 1959 elections saw the US-RDA win all 80 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and it became the sole legal party the following year. Elections were held in 1964, but with no opposition, the party retained all 80 seats.

Following a coup in 1968 by Moussa Traoré, the party was banned. Over the next two decades, the US-RDA remained underground until re-emerging in 1990, when it joined the growing democratic movement against Traoré's dictatorship, becoming part of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA).

In the 1992 parliamentary elections, the first multi-party vote since 1959, the US-RDA won eight of the 129 seats, emerging as the third-largest party behind ADEMA (76 seats) and the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (9). The party put forward Tiéoulé Mamadou Konaté as its candidate for the 1992 presidential elections. He finished in second place in the first round of voting, but was beaten by ADEMA's Alpha Oumar Konaré in the run-off by 69% to 31%.

The May 1997 presidential elections saw the party nominate Seydou Kouyate as its candidate, but he finished sixth with just 1.6% of the vote. The party boycotted the July 1997 parliamentary elections, following the annulment of the April 1997 elections.

In 1998 the party split into two factions, one of which followed Daba Diawara to become the Independence, Democracy and Solidarity Party (PIDS) in 2001. The US-RDA contested the 2002 parliamentary elections as part of the Convergence for Alternation and Change alliance, which won 10 seats.

The party joined the Alliance for Democracy and Progress for the 2007 parliamentary elections. The alliance won 113 seats, of which the US-RDA took one.

In August 2010 it merged with the Bloc for Democracy and African Integration to form the Malian Union for the African Democratic Rally.[2]

Electoral history[edit]

Presidential elections[edit]

Election Party candidate Votes % Result
1992 Baba Hakib Haidara 76,840 7.0% Lost Red XN
1997 Seydou Kouyate 26,565 1.6% Lost Red XN
2002 Did not Participate
2007

National Assembly elections[edit]

Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position
1946–47 Modibo Keïta 100%
2 / 30
Increase 2 Increase 3rd
1952 101,902 100%
13 / 40
Increase 11 Increase 2nd
1957 435,976 62.14%
57 / 70
Increase 44 Increase 1st
1959 515,869 76.0%
80 / 80
Increase 23 Steady 1st
1964 2,106,788 99.0%
80 / 80
Steady 1st Steady 1st
1979 One-party state rule from 1976 to 1991
1982
1985
1988
1992 Mamadou Bamou Touré 172,998 17.6%
8 / 129
Increase 8 Increase 2nd
1997 (Apr) 126,271 7.83% Invalidated Steady 2nd
1997 (Jul) Boycotted
0 / 147
Decrease 8
2002 as part of CFAAC
10 / 160
Increase 10 Increase 3rd
2007 as part of AFDAP
1 / 160
Decrease 9 Decrease 12th

References[edit]

  1. ^ Elections in Mali African Elections Database
  2. ^ Mali: Defunct political parties Archived 2014-04-13 at the Wayback Machine EISA