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The Rally for Democracy and Progress (commonly: RDP-Jama'a, French: Rassemblement pour la Démocratie et le Progrès-Jama'a) is a political party in Niger. It was established as the ruling party during the presidency of Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara.
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The National Union of Independents for Democratic Renewal (UNIRD) was established in 1996 to support Maïnassara in that year's elections, but subsequently the RDP-Jama'a was established as the ruling party. At the RDP's national congress, Hamid Algabid was elected leader of the RDP-Jama'a on August 20, 1997.[1][2]
After Maïnassara was assassinated in April 1999, a new transitional military regime held elections late in the year. One faction of the RDP chose Algabid as its candidate in the presidential election, while another backed party vice-chairman Amadou Cissé.[3][4] The Court of State accepted Algabid's candidacy and rejected Cissé's.[5] Algabid took fourth place in the election, with 10.83% of the vote,[6] and backed Mahamadou Issoufou of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) in the second round. Some in the RPD disagreed with this decision and backed Tandja Mamadou of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) instead. Tandja won the second round against Issoufou.[5] The RDP won eight seats in the November 1999 parliamentary election,[5] and following the election it formed part of the opposition in the National Assembly, along with the PNDS.[7]
Algabid was re-elected President of the RDP for another three-year term at a party congress on January 23, 2001.[8] As of 2001 there was a dispute between factions in the RDP; a dissident faction, led by Idi Ango Omar, opposed Algabid's nomination of executive members of the party.[7]
The RPD has sought an international inquiry regarding Maïnassara's death.[7][8] Following his re-election as RDP President in January 2001, 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".[8] In the National Assembly, the RDP proposed that the amnesty for participants in both the 1996 and 1999 coups be lifted, but this proposal was rejected by a large majority of deputies on April 21, 2001. Along with other opposition parties, the RPD was part of a demonstration by about 3,000 people in Niamey on April 7, 2002, shortly before the anniversary of the assassination, demanding an international inquiry.[7]
In the presidential election held on 16 November 2004, Algabid, the RDP candidate, won 4.9 % of the vote in the first round. The RDP then backed incumbent president Tandja Mamadou in the second round.[9] In the parliamentary election, held along with the presidential second round on 4 December, the party won 6.5 % of the popular vote and 6 out of 113 seats.