The Democratic Unionist Party ( ar-at, الحزب الإتحادي الديموقراطي, al-Hizb al-Ittihadi al-Dimuqrati), also referred to by itself as the Original Democratic Unionist Party, is 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 ...
in
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, closely tied to the
Khatmiyya
The Khatmiyya is a Sufi order or tariqa founded by Sayyid Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani al-Khatim.
The Khatmiyya is the largest Sufi order in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It also has followers in Egypt, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Uganda, Ye ...
Sufi order.
Established in 1952 as the National Unionist Party (NUP), it is one of two political parties predating Sudan's independence, along the
Umma Party
The National Umma Party ( ar, حزب الأمة القومي , translit=Hizb al-Umma al-qawmmy; en, Nation Party) is an Islamic political party in Sudan. It was formerly led by Sadiq al-Mahdi, who served twice as Prime Minister of Sudan, and ...
. Founded by Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani II's Khatmiyya order and
Ismail al-Azhari's urban nationalist
Ashigga Party (est. 1943), it is often considered Sudan's oldest political party.
Having won a clear majority in Sudan's
first parliamentary election, al-Azhari became Sudan's first
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, who in 1955 declared independence from colonial rule.
The party broke apart in 1956, with the Khatmiyya order founding the new
People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(PDP), but reunited in 1967, resulting in the current name. In 1986, DUP leader
Ahmed al-Mirghani
Ahmad Ali Al-Mirghani ( ar, أحمد الميرغني; 16 August 1942 – 2 November 2008) was the 6th President of Sudan from May 6, 1986, to June 30, 1989, when the democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup led by ...
became
President of Sudan
This article lists the heads of state of Sudan since the country's independence in 1956.
History of the office
Since independence was proclaimed on 1 January 1956, six individuals (and three multi-member sovereignty councils) have served as ...
until ousted by
Omar al-Bashir's military coup in 1989. While the party's official leadership around Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani II remained in exile, the
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
-based Political Secretariat seceded in 2011, resulting in the rivalling the
"Registered" Democratic Unionist Party led by
Jalal al-Digair.
History
The party emerged in 1952 from the historic approach of the
Khatmiyya
The Khatmiyya is a Sufi order or tariqa founded by Sayyid Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani al-Khatim.
The Khatmiyya is the largest Sufi order in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It also has followers in Egypt, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Uganda, Ye ...
Sufi order, founded in the first half of the 19th century by
Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani II, and
Ismail al-Azhari's urban nationalist
Ashigga Party, established in 1943.
In Sudan's
first parliamentary election the NUP won a legislative majority, making al-Azhari the first
Sudanese Prime Minister under British–Egyptian colonial rule.
On 19 December 1955, shortly after the
First Sudanese Civil War
The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom') was a conflict from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the sou ...
had broken out, al-Azhari, declared the
Independence of Sudan. Internal divisions between the al-Azhari faction and the Khatmiyya order however led to a split in 1956, with the Khatmiyya order founding the new
People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to:
* People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
*People's Democratic Party (Belize)
*People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
*People's Democratic Party (Chile)
* People's Democratic Party (Dom ...
(PDP). The party subsequently lost its majority, but remained a major political force even after
General Abboud's short-lived 1958
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
.
Al-Azhari and PDP leader
Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani reunited in 1967/Dec in the presence of King
Faisal of Saudi Arabia
Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, فيصل بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود ''Fayṣal ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'', Najdi Arabic pronunciation: ; 14 April 1906 – 25 March 1975) was a Saudi Arabian statesman and diplomat who was ...
. Reestablished under the new name ''Democratic Unionist Party'' (DUP), the party won the
1968 election and subsequently formed a coalition government with the
Umma Party
The National Umma Party ( ar, حزب الأمة القومي , translit=Hizb al-Umma al-qawmmy; en, Nation Party) is an Islamic political party in Sudan. It was formerly led by Sadiq al-Mahdi, who served twice as Prime Minister of Sudan, and ...
. The government's proposal of a basically Islamic constitution making Sudan a Muslim Arab state, however lead to
Colonel Nimeiry's second coup d'état and the abolition of the parliament.
The party shortly returned to the political landscape in the
1986 election, where it won the largest number of votes though came second in number of seats having allowed too much freedom to its membership for constituency nominations.
Ahmed al-Mirghani
Ahmad Ali Al-Mirghani ( ar, أحمد الميرغني; 16 August 1942 – 2 November 2008) was the 6th President of Sudan from May 6, 1986, to June 30, 1989, when the democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup led by ...
became
President of Sudan
This article lists the heads of state of Sudan since the country's independence in 1956.
History of the office
Since independence was proclaimed on 1 January 1956, six individuals (and three multi-member sovereignty councils) have served as ...
, until ousted by
Omar al-Bashir's 1989 military coup. Since then, the party's Chairman remained outside Sudan while allowing its members to freely decide on the degree of participation in central and state governments.
In November 2022, following General al-Burhan's coup in 2021, party leader Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani returned to lead the party from Sudan.
Ideology
The party's main platform is in favour of a united
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, and previously
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
the downstream
Nile River
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
riparians.
The basic intellectual underpinnings of the party since its general congress in late 1960s, are:
democratic pluralism politically, a
mixed economy
A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economi ...
economically, and the establishment of a
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
country towards as "the only acceptable way for peaceful coexistence in a country with different components of ethnic, tribal, religious, intellectual and cultural aspects in order to ensure the principle of that 'The sole basis of rights and duties should be based upon the Citizenship alone'."
The party has long-standing relations with the SPLM with whom it signed the Peace Deal of November 1988 in
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 ...
which was then opposed by the NIF party. It also enjoys good relationships with almost all the Sudanese political groups.
The last
legislative
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
, December 2000, were boycotted by the party, as most of the political groups, described as unfair and rigged.
Through the
National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
it played a major role in the opposition to the NIF regime in Sudan during 1989-2005 until the signing of the Cairo Peace Agreement between the
NDA
NDA may stand for:
Military
* National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India
* National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military
* National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan
* Nig ...
and the government of Sudan. As a consequence of its stances the DUP has suffered continuous attempts to divide and weaken it by the Sudanese security forces and the ruling party of Sudan, which seem to have failed so far.
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the
SPLM
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
and the government of Sudan, the party's position has shifted towards a more mediatory role attempting to re-align the old and new opposition parties in a comprehensive stance to tackle the broader Sudanese issues such as unity, elections and transition into democracy avoiding polarisation which it views as damaging to the long term interests of the country.
It continues to view the
National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
as a long-term alliance that could rightly guide the political movement in
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
.
Electoral history
Presidential elections
National Assembly elections
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Liberal parties in Sudan
Political parties established in 1952
Political parties in Sudan
Sudanese democracy movements
1952 establishments in Sudan