The National Democratic Party (french: Parti National Démocratique) ( ar, الحزب الوطني الديموقراطي) 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 ideological or p ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. It was founded as an opposition party in 1992 by Aden Robleh Awaleh, who remains the party's president. It was part of the ruling coalition in 2005,''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 181. but has since rejoined the opposition against President

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Ismaïl Omar Guelleh ( so, Ismaaciil Cumar Geelle ar, إسماعيل عمر جليه) (born 27 November 1947) is the current President of Djibouti. He has been in office since 1999, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa. He is ...

. The PND was founded on 13 September 1992, and it boycotted the December 1992 parliamentary election. Seeking greater democracy, it then called for a transitional national unity government to be formed. Awaleh stood as the party's candidate in the May 1993 presidential election, receiving 12% of the vote and placing third. On 27 October 1995, a PND protest was broken up by the police and many PND members, including Awaleh, were arrested. The party participated in the December 1997 parliamentary election, but failed to win any seats, obtaining 2.3% of the vote."Djibouti: Political opposition parties (This Response replaces an earlier version dated 13 January 1999.
", Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (UNHCR Refworld), DJI31018.FE, 1 February 1999. The PND only presented candidates in

Ali Sabieh Region Ali Sabieh Region ( ar, إقليم على صبيح, so, Gobolka Cali Sabiix) is a region in southern Djibouti. With a mainland area of 2,400 square kilometres (900 sq mi), it lies along the national border with Somaliland and Ethiopia, borderin ...

in the 1997 election, and it performed well there, losing to the ruling coalition by only 500 votes. The PND experienced internal division in the late 1990s. In May 1997, Awaleh suspended PND spokesman Farah Ali Wabert from the party, a move that reportedly exacerbated the situation. By November 1998, a rival leadership under Mahdi Ahmed Abdillahié controlled the PND headquarters, and in the same month, the PND headquarters was attacked with a grenade; there was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The factions apparently reconciled by 2002. The PND subsequently joined the ruling coalition, the Union for a Presidential Majority (''Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle'', UMP). In the

parliamentary election 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 ( ...

held on 10 January 2003, the party was included in the joint candidate lists of the UMP, which won 62.7% of the popular vote and all seats. The PND subsequently supported Guelleh in the April 2005 presidential election, and it remained part of the UMP in the February 2008 parliamentary election. The PND split from the ruling coalition in 2010 after Guelleh pushed through constitutional changes allowing him to run for a third term.'
Djibouti politics: Issa job?
'', The Eonomist Intelligence Unit, April 20, 2010 The party joined the opposition boycott of the 2011 election.

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

References

External links

Official web site
{{Djiboutian political parties Political parties in Djibouti 1992 establishments in Djibouti Political parties established in 1992