Pan-African Union for Social Democracy
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The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (Union Panafricaine pour la Démocratie Sociale) is a political party in the Republic of the Congo, led by former president Pascal Lissouba.
In the 1991–1992 transition to multiparty elections, UPADS was part of the National Alliance for Democracy (AND), which also included the Congolese Labour Party (PCT).[1] In the parliamentary election held in June–July 1992, UPADS won 39 out of the 125 seats[1][2] and, together with its AND allies (mainly the PCT), gained a slight majority of 64 seats in the National Assembly.[1] UPADS leader Pascal Lissouba was victorious over Bernard Kolélas, the leader of the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (MCDDI), in the second round of the August 1992 presidential election, winning 61.32% of the vote.[1][2][3]
A UPADS-led government, with Stéphane Maurice Bongho-Nouarra as Prime Minister, was appointed after Lissouba took office, but because the PCT withdrew from the pro-Lissouba alliance and joined the opposition after it received only three positions in the government, the alliance lost its parliamentary majority. The Union for Democratic Renewal (URD) opposition coalition and the PCT were therefore successful in defeating Bongho-Nouarra's government in a no-confidence vote on October 31, 1992. Lissouba consequently dissolved the National Assembly and called a new election;[1][2] facing protests about this, he accepted the formation of a national unity government dominated by the URD and PCT in the lead-up to the election.[1] In the 1993 parliamentary election, the Presidential Tendency, of which UPADS was the main component, won a majority of the seats decided in the first round, 62 out of 114; UPADS itself won 49 out of the 62. The URD and PCT opposition denounced this election as fraudulent and refused to participate in the second round, in which the Presidential Tendency won an additional seven seats; however, these results were cancelled and a second round revote was held in October 1993,[1][4] in which the Presidential Tendency won only three of the 11 available seats.[1]
Lissouba was ousted at the end of a civil war in 1997, and Denis Sassou Nguesso of the PCT became president. Kignomba Kia Mbougou was the UPADS presidential candidate in the presidential election held on 10 March 2002; he took second place but received only 2.76% of the vote, with Sassou Nguesso winning by an overwhelming margin according to official results.[3] In the parliamentary election held on 26 May and 23 June 2002, UPADS won 2 out of 137 seats.[3][5]
The party's first extraordinary congress was held on 27–28 December 2006, with 954 delegates. On this occasion Pascal Tsaty-Mabiala was elected secretary-general of the party.[6]
Despite being in the opposition, UPADS chose to participate in the June 2007 parliamentary election, which was boycotted by many other opposition groups.[7] The party put forward about 50 candidates.[8] The party received three seats out the 46 declared in the first round. Tsaty-Mabiala said that the party would only participate in the second round of the election in July if the electoral rolls were improved, voter registration cards were properly distributed, and the composition of the electoral commissions was changed. He also said that the second round should be delayed to allow time for these things to be done.[9] The election was delayed by two weeks.[10]
In results announced after the second round, the party had a total of 10 seats in the National Assembly. Tsaty-Mabiala denounced the results as fraudulent on August 11 and said that the election was neither transparent nor fair. He alleged that five UPADS candidates, in Mossendjo, Moutamba, Nkayi, Mabombo and Dolisie electoral districts, had won but were deprived of victory in the results. The party appealed to the Constitutional Court.[11] Ibovi subsequently announced a correction in the results for one of the electoral districts UPADS claimed to have won, Mabombo (in Bouenza Region), which had gone to Marcel Kalla in the previous results, but which Ibovi said was actually won by the UPADS candidate, Christophe Moukouéké (a former Secretary-General of UPADS). This raised the number of UPADS seats to 11.[12]
In early October 2007, Tsaty-Mabiala said that UPADS would not participate in any national unity government because there had not been an agreement on resolving the country's problems.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h John F. Clark, "Congo: Transition and the Struggle to Consolidate", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, pages 71–72.
- ^ a b c IPU PARLINE page on 1992 parliamentary election.
- ^ a b c Elections in Congo-Brazzaville, African Elections Database.
- ^ IPU PARLINE page on the 1993 parliamentary election.
- ^ IPU PARLINE page on the 2002 parliamentary election.
- ^ "L'U.PA.D.S met en garde le pouvoir pour la commission électorale", Kimpwanza (Congoplus.info), February 17, 2007 (French).
- ^ "Congo: ouverture de la campagne du premier tour des élections législatives", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), June 8, 2007 (French).
- ^ "Congo: Opposition claims elections were rigged", African Press Agency, August 14, 2007.
- ^ "L'UPADS conditionne sa participation au 2ème tour des législatives", Panapress (Jeuneafrique.com), July 5, 2007 (French).
- ^ "Le second tour des législatives au Congo reporté au 5 août", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), July 19, 2007 (French).
- ^ "L’UPADS accuse le pouvoir d’avoir fait un hold-up électoral au Congo", Panapress (Jeuneafrique.com), August 12, 2007 (French).
- ^ "Un candidat de l'opposition repêché après rectificatif au Congo", Panapress (Jeuneafrique.com), August 13, 2007 (French).
- ^ "Un parti d’opposition rejette toute participation à un gouvernement d’Union nationale au Congo", African Press Agency, October 8, 2007 (French).
