African Independence Party (in French: ''Parti Africain de l'Indépendance'') is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, which was led by Majhmoud Diop. At the 1972 congress of the original African Independence Party in Senegal, the former general secretary, Majhmoud Diop, was expelled. In 1976, in the context of rapprochement from the side of the government, Diop was welcomed to return from exile. Rapidly he gathered his followers and formed a 'Provisional Committee for Renewal of PAI'. Amongst his aides were Baba Ndiaye and Bara Goudiaby. Effectively this group started function as a separate party, calling itself PAI. Generally it became known as ''PAI-Rénovation'' (Renewal), distinguishing it from the original PAI (which was called ''PAI-Sénégal'').

Background

In an attempt to move away from the

one-party system A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

, the National Assembly of Senegal adopted a law on July 9, 1975, which would give way to a three party system. The law identified that three distinct ideological tendencies would be represented in the political life of the country: liberal and democratic, socialist and democratic and Marxist-Leninist. The governing UPS was accorded the role as the Social Democratic party and the main opposition PDS was legalized to take the role as the liberal democratic party. On August 14, 1976, PAI-Rénovation was registered as a legal political party under the name 'PAI'. It was recognized to take the role of the legal left in the three party system. (PAI-Sénégal was later (in 1981, after the abolition of the three party system) registered as Party of Independence and Work (PIT).) In the 1978 elections PAI of Diop came third with 3734 votes (0.3% of the total vote). In 1979 PAI of Diop was joined by a tendency of LD led by Moussa Kane. PAI publishes the party

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

'' Momsarev''.

External links

Party website

References

*Zuccarelli, François. ''La vie politique sénégalaise (1940-1988)''. Paris: CHEAM, 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:African Independence Party - Renewal 1976 establishments in Senegal Political parties established in 1976 Political parties in Senegal Socialist parties in Senegal