Comorian Union for Progress

The Comorian Union for Progress (Comorian: Udzima, lit. Unity;[1] French: Union Comorienne pour le Progrès, UCP) is a political party in the Comoros.

Comorian Union for Progress
اتحاد جزر القمر من أجل التقدم
Union Comorienne pour le Progrès
Udzima
Founded1982
Dissolved1996
HeadquartersMoroni
IdeologyNationalism
Political positionLeft-wing

History edit

In 1978, French mercenary Bob Denard staged a coup d'etat against the socialist government of Ali Soilih, bringing Ahmed Abdallah back to power. In February 1982, Abdallah banned all existing political parties and created the UCP. In subsequent elections a month later, the UCP won 37 of 38 seats in the National Assembly, with the other seat going to an independent. In the 1987 parliamentary elections the UCP won all 42 seats. Another coup by Denard in 1989 brought Said Mohamed Djohar, who was also part of the UCP.

Multi-party politics was introduced in 1990 and Djohar was elected President. However, Djohar renounced the party in 1991. The party boycotted the 1992 parliamentary elections in protest at the government's refusal to update the voter roll.[2] However, it did contest the early elections the following year, winning two seats.[3]

The party was dissolved in October 1996 when it merged into the National Rally for Development.[4]

However, the party was later reformed, and contested the 2015 parliamentary elections, failing to win a seat. It nominated Said Ahmed Said Ali as its candidate for the 2016 presidential elections, but he failed to progress beyond the Grande Comore primary, only receiving 0.5% of the vote.

Electoral history edit

Presidential elections edit

Election Party candidate Votes % Votes % Result
First Round Second Round
1984 Ahmed Abdallah 99.4% Elected  Y
1990 Said Mohamed Djohar 44,845 23.1% 103,000 55.1% Elected  Y
1996 Omar Tamou 13.3% Lost  N
Mtara Maécha 38.7%
2016 Said Ahmed Said Ali 573 0.52% Lost  N

Assembly elections edit

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position Result
1982
37 / 37
  37   1st Sole legal party
1987
42 / 42
  5   1st Sole legal party
1992 Boycotted
0 / 42
  42 Extra-parliamentary
1993
2 / 42
  2   5th Opposition
2015 2,713 1.51%
0 / 24
   10th Extra-parliamentary

References edit

  1. ^ Martin Ottenheimer & Harriet Ottenheimer (1994) Historical Dictionary of the Comoro Islands, Scarecrow Press, p85
  2. ^ Elections held in 1992 IPU
  3. ^ Elections held in 1993 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine IPU
  4. ^ Comoros islands: Constitutional referendum[permanent dead link] African Intelligence, 12 October 1996