Social Party for the Emancipation of the African Masses (in
French: ''Parti Social pour l'Émancipation des Masses Africaines'') 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 ...
in
Upper Volta, led by
Joseph Conombo and
Henri Guissou Henri Guissou (17 November 1910, Koudougou, French Upper Volta – 22 May 1979, Koudougou) was a Burkinabé politician and diplomat.
Henri Guissou was senator from Côte d'Ivoire from 1947 to 1948, and member for French Upper Volta to the National ...
. PSEMA was founded in 1955 following a split in the
Voltaic Union
Voltaic Union (french: Union Voltaïque) was a political party in Upper Volta. It was formed soon after World War II on the initiative of the French governor Albert Mouragues, and Mouragues was accused of interference in the June 1948 local ele ...
.
Ahead of the 1957 territorial assembly elections PSEMA joined the
Unified Democratic Party (PDU) coalition, which won the elections. PSEMA candidates did however not fare to good. After the elections PSEMA split from PDU and joined the
Voltaic Solidarity
Voltaic Solidarity (in French: ''Solidarité Voltaïque'') was a political alliance in Upper Volta formed after the territorial elections in . SV was constituted by the Social Party for the Emancipation of the African Masses (PSEMA), African Popu ...
(SV) grouping. Effectively it lost government power.
In 1958 PSEMA, along with the rest of SV, merged into the
African Regroupment Party (PRA).
Source: Englebert, Pierre. ''La Revolution Burkinabè''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986.
Defunct political parties in Burkina Faso
{{BurkinaFaso-party-stub