The Democratic National Rally ( ar, التجمع الوطني الديمقراطي, french: Rassemblement National Démocratique, RND) 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 ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. The party held its Second Congress on 15–17 May 2003.

History

The RND was founded on 21 February 1997 in the midst of the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various I ...

for supporters of

Liamine Zéroual Liamine Zéroual ( ar, اليمين زروال ALA-LC: ''al-Yamīn Zarwāl''; Berber: Lyamin Ẓerwal; born 3 July 1941) is an Algerian politician who was the sixth President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999. Biography He was bor ...

, former head of ground forces of the Algerian military who had been elected president less than two years earlier (16 November 1995). Zéroual had run as an independent and won 60% of votes cast. In the Algerian Parliamentary elections held on 5 June 1997 the RND received more votes than any other party 156 out of 380 seats. In the next parliamentary elections five years later it came in third polling only 9.5% of the vote, winning 47 of 380 seats in the

Algerian Parliament The Parliament of Algeria consists of two chambers: *The Council of the Nation (Upper Chamber) *The People's National Assembly (Lower Chamber) See also * Politics of Algeria *List of legislatures by country References External linksPeopl ...

. In the 2007 election it obtained 10.33% of the vote and 61 seats out of the 389 seats. It is part of the presidential alliance, a three party political alliance created in 2005, the other two parties being the former sole legal party, the National Liberation Front, and the

Movement for the Society of Peace The Movement of Society for Peace ( ar, حركة مجتمع السلم, Harakat mujtamaâ as-Silm; ), sometimes known by its shortened form Hamas () is an Islamic party in Algeria, led by Mahfoud Nahnah until his death in 2003. Its current lea ...

. The

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

Berkley Center describes the RND as having "replaced" the FLN as the Algerian "state party" temporarily for the 1995 and 1997 elections "after the FLN was defeated by the

Islamic Salvation Front The Islamic Salvation Front ( ar, الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; french: Front Islamique du Salut, FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders represent ...

(FIS) in the 1991-1992 national legislative elections". That election was canceled by a military coup and the civil war that followed killed as many 200,000 Algerians, but once the Islamist insurgents were pacified to a large degree, the "FLN regained its place as the majority and ruling party". RND Secretary-General

Ahmed Ouyahia Ahmed Ouyahia ( ar, rtl=yes, أحمد أويحيى, Aḥmad ʾŪyaḥyā; 2 July 1952) is an Algerian politician who was Prime Minister of Algeria four times (1995–98, 2004–2006, 2008–2012, 2017–2019). A career diplomat, he also served a ...

was appointed as

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 ...

on 23 June 2008."Ahmed Ouyahia Secrétaire Général du RND Chef du Gouvernement"
, RND website, 24 June 2008 .

Electoral history

Presidential elections

People's National Assembly elections

References

{{Algerian political parties 1997 establishments in Algeria Liberal parties in Algeria Political parties established in 1997 Political parties in Algeria