The Central African Democratic Rally (french: Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain, RDC) 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 the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

History

The party was established on 6 February 1987, initially as the political vehicle for President André Kolingba. It was the only legal party in the country until 1992. Kolingba was the party's presidential candidate in the 1993 general elections, and was eliminated in the first round after receiving just 12% of the vote. The party won 13 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

, emerging as the second-largest faction behind the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MLPC). It subsequently joined the coalition government led by the MLPC's

Jean-Luc Mandaba Jean-Luc Mandaba (15 August 1943 – 22 October 2000) was Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 25 October 1993 to 12 April 1995 under President Ange-Félix Patassé. Biography Mandaba was born on 15 August 1943 in Bangui. He receive ...

.Elections held in 1993
IPU In the next

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in 1998 the RDC was part of the Union of Forces for Peace, (UFAP) which opposed President

Ange-Félix Patassé Ange-Félix Patassé (January 25, 1937 – April 5, 2011) was a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 1993 until 2003, when he was deposed by the rebel leader François Bozizé in the 2003 coup d'ét ...

. The RDC won 20 seats, and UFAP gained a majority of 55 of the 109 seats in the National Assembly. However, the MLPC was able to form a government after the defection of a UFAP MP.Tom Lansford (2014) ''Political Handbook of the World 2014'', CQ Press, p249 Kolingba was the party's candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, finishing second with 19% of the vote as Patassé was elected in the first round of voting. Kolingba was the party's presidential candidate again for the 2005 general elections. He finished in third place with took 16% of the vote.Report of the Observation Mission of the Presidential and Legislative Elections of 13 March and 8 May 2005 in the Central African Republic
Francophone Democracy
African Elections Database The elections also saw the party reduced to seven seats in the National Assembly. In the 2011 general elections the party won just one seat in the National Assembly, whilst its presidential candidate Emile Gros Raymond Nakombo finished fourth in a field of five with 5% of the vote. After the death of André Kolingba, the party was chaired by his son Désiré Kolingba, until his death in April 2021.

References

1987 establishments in the Central African Republic African and Black nationalist parties in Africa Democratic socialist parties in Africa Parties of one-party systems Political parties in the Central African Republic Political parties established in 1987 Social democratic parties in Africa Socialism in the Central African Republic {{CentralAfricanRepublic-stub