The Rally for Democracy and Progress (french: Rassemblement pour la Démocratie et le Progrès, RDP-Jama'a) 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 ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesHamid Algabid Hamid Algabid (born 1941) is a Nigerien politician and the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP-Jama'a) party. A lawyer, banker, and technocrat, Algabid was an important figure in the regime of Seyni Kountché, serving as Prime ...

. It was established as the ruling party during the presidency of

Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara General Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara (May 9, 1949 – April 9, 1999) was a military officer and diplomat in Niger who ruled the country from his seizure of power in 1996 until his assassination during the military coup of April 1999. Baré Maïn ...

History

The National Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal (UNIRD) was established in 1996 to support Maïnassara in that year's

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

. UNIRD went on to win the parliamentary elections later in the year. However, the following year it was dissolved and replaced by the RDP-Jama'a. At the RDP's national congress,

Hamid Algabid Hamid Algabid (born 1941) is a Nigerien politician and the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP-Jama'a) party. A lawyer, banker, and technocrat, Algabid was an important figure in the regime of Seyni Kountché, serving as Prime ...

was elected leader of the RDP-Jama'a on 20 August 1997. After Maïnassara was assassinated in a coup in April 1999, a new transitional military regime held elections late in the year. One faction of the RDP chose Algabid as its candidate for the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, while another backed party vice-chairman Amadou Cissé."Niger: Eight register for November presidential poll"
IRIN, 30 August 1999. The dispute went to the Court of State, which accepted Algabid's candidacy.Report of the observation mission of the presidential and legislative elections of 17 October and 24 November 1999

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a ...

. The dispute led to the Cissé faction breaking away to form the Union for Democracy and the Republic. In the elections, Algabid finished fourth out of seven candidates in the first round with 10.83% of the vote,Elections in Niger
African Elections Database. and he backed

Mahamadou Issoufou Mahamadou Issoufou (born 1 January 1952) is a Nigerien politician who served as the President of Niger from 7 April 2011 to 2 April 2021. Issoufou was the prime minister of Niger from 1993 to 1994, president of the National Assembly from 1995 t ...

of the

Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism The Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (french: Parti Nigerien pour la Democratie et le Socialisme, PNDS-Tarayya) is a political party in Niger. It is a broadly left-leaning party, part of the Socialist International, and since 2011 it ...

(PNDS) in the second round. However, some in the RPD disagreed with this decision and backed

Mamadou Tandja Mamadou Tandja (1938 – 24 November 2020) was a Nigerien politician who was President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement for the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNS ...

of the

National Movement for the Development of Society The National Movement for the Development of Society (french: Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement, MNSD-Nassara) is a political party in Niger. Founded under the military government of the 1974–1990 period, it was the ruling ...

(MNSD) instead. Tandja won the second round against Issoufou. In the 1999 parliamentary election, the RDP won eight 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 rep ...

, and following the election, it went into opposition along with the PNDS."Niger: Democratic Rally of the People-Jama'a-RDP"
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada, 19 September 2002. Algabid was re-elected President of the RDP for another three-year term at a party congress on 23 January 2001,"Niger: Rally for Democracy and Progress re-elects chairman", Agence France-Presse, 23 January 2001. although a dissident faction, led by

Idi Ango Omar Idi or IDI may refer to: People * Idi Amin (c. 1925–2003), President of Uganda and military officer * Idi b. Abin Naggara, 4th century Jewish Babylonian rabbi * Idi Othman Guda (1941–2015), Nigerian politician * Idi Papez, Austrian 1930s ...

, opposed Algabid's nomination of executive members of the party. Following his re-election, Algabid said that the party's "immediate objective" was "to secure the opening of an international commission of inquiry into the assassination of president Mainassara". In the National Assembly, the RDP proposed that the

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

for participants in both the 1996 and 1999 coups be lifted, but the proposal was rejected by a large majority of deputies on 21 April 2001. Along with other opposition parties, the RPD was part of a demonstration by about 3,000 people in

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital dis ...

on 7 April 2002, shortly before the anniversary of the assassination, demanding an international inquiry. In the 2004 general election Algabid was the RDP's presidential candidate again, finishing last in a field of six candidates with 5% of the vote. The RDP then backed incumbent President Mamadou Tandja in the second round."Présidentielle au Niger: un quatrième parti, le RDP, soutient la candidature de Mamadou Tandja au second tour"
, Xinhua, 23 November 2004 . In the concurrent parliamentary election the party received 6.5% of the vote, winning six of the 113 seats. Five years later, in the 2009 parliamentary election, it won seven seats. The party did not nominate a presidential candidate for the 2011 general election, but retained its seven seats in the National Assembly. The 2016 election saw it reduced to three seats, with the party again not contesting the presidential election.

References

{{Authority control Political parties in Niger 1997 establishments in Niger Political parties established in 1997