The Benishangul Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front (BGPDUF; am, የቤንሻንጉልና ጉሙዝ ሕዝቦች ዴሞክራሲዊ አንድነት) was a

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

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. In the 2010 elections, the BGPDUF won 9 seats. In local elections held the same day, the BGPDUF won 98 of the 99 seats in the Benishangul-Gumuz parliament. The BGPDUF emerged from a 1996 conference led by the former Deputy Prime Minister

Tamrat Layne Tamrat Layne Admassu ( gez, ታምራት ላይኔ አድማሱ; born 1955) is an Ethiopian former politician and a converted born-again Christian. He had served as Prime Minister of Ethiopia during the Transitional Government of Ethiopia after ...

. Previous to the conference, relations between the dominant

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...

(EPRDF) and its partner, the Benishangul People's Liberation Movement (BPLM) had grown strained, and the BPLM was ineffective due to internal factionalism. The conference announced its members had agreed that "all the parties should evaluate and cleanse themselves of ' OLF sympathisers', 'supporters of Sudanese interventionists' and 'corrupt officials'". Whereupon, under the direction of EPRDF cadres, members of not only the BPLM but the other five ethnic-based parties in the

Benishangul-Gumuz Region Benishangul-Gumuz ( am, ቤንሻንጉል ጉሙዝ, Benšangul Gumuz) is a regional state in northwestern Ethiopia to the border of Sudan. It was previously known as Region 6. The region's capital is Assosa. Following the adoption of the 1 ...

, submitted to a grueling session of ''gimgema'' or

self-criticism Self-criticism involves how an individual evaluates oneself. Self-criticism in psychology is typically studied and discussed as a negative personality trait in which a person has a disrupted self-identity. The opposite of self-criticism would be ...

; those who were found to have admitted their weaknesses satisfactorily were allowed to enroll in the new parties being formed. As Asnake Kefale Adegehe explains: : First, the BPLM, which had had a pan-regional claim was reduced to the

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

and was renamed the EBPDO. Second, the two distinct ethnic parties that claimed to represent; the Mao and the Komo were merged to establish the Mao-Komo People's Democratic Organisation (MKPDO). The Gumuz and Boro-Shinasha ethnic parties remained without much change. The four organisations were then brought together to form a new front modelled after the EPRDF and named the BGPDUF.

Previous election results

In the 2005 elections, the party won 8 seats, all from the

. The Deputy Chairman of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Affairs Committee in the following session of the Ethiopian Parliament was a member of the BGDUF. In the 2000 Regional assembly elections, the BGDUF won 71 of 80 seats in Benishangul-Gumuz parliament. In the August 2005 Regional assembly elections, the party won 85 out of 99 seats in the Benishangul-Gumuz. In the 2008 by-elections for the Regional legislature, the BGPDUF won 5 seats. In December 2019, the party merged with the Afar National Democratic Party (ANDP), the

Amhara Democratic Party The Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) ( am, አማራ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ፓርቲ), originally known as Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), was a political party in Ethiopia. The party was one of four members of the Ethiopian People's ...

(ADP), the

Ethiopian Somali People's Democratic Party The Somali Democratic Party (SDP; so, Xisbiga Dimuqraadiga Soomaalida), formerly the Ethiopian Somali People's Democratic Party, was a political party in Ethiopia, created by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ...

(ESPDP), the

Gambela People's Democratic Movement The Gambela Peoples’ Democratic Movement (GPDM, am, የጋምቤላ ሕዝቦች ዴሞክራሲያዊ ንቅናቄ, translit=Yä-Gambella Həzbočč Demokrasiyawi Nəqnaqe), also known as the Gambela People’s Democratic Movement or Gambella ...

(GPDM), the

Hareri National League The Harari National League ( am, የሐረሪ ብሔራዊ ሊግ, Harari: ዚሀረሪ መሐዲያ ሊግ) was a political party in Ethiopia. Its chairman, Ordeen Badri, was also president of the Harari Region.Oromo Democratic Party The Oromo Democratic Party ( om, Paartii Demokraatawaa Oromoo, ODP) was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peopl ...

(ODP) and the

Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement The Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM) was a political party in Ethiopia. At the last legislative elections, 15 May 2005, the party was part of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, that won 327 out of 527 ...

(SEPDM) to form the

Prosperity Party The Prosperity Party ( am, ብልጽግና ፓርቲ, Bilits’igina Paritī; om, Paartii Badhaadhiinaa) is a political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic F ...

Notes

{{Ethiopia political parties 1996 establishments in Ethiopia 2019 disestablishments in Ethiopia Defunct political parties in Ethiopia Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front Political parties disestablished in 2019 Political parties established in 1996