Front for Democracy in Burundi

Front for Democracy in Burundi Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi
President	Léonce Ngendakumana
Founded	1986
Legalised	1992
Preceded by	Burundi Workers' Party
Ideology	Hutu interests Democratic socialism
Political position	Left-wing
International affiliation	Socialist International
Colors	Green, white
Senate	0 / 43
National Assembly	0 / 121
Party flag
Politics of Burundi Political parties Elections

The Front for Democracy in Burundi (French: Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi, FRODEBU) is a political party in Burundi.

History

It was formed by followers of Melchior Ndadaye from the disbanded Burundi Workers' Party in 1986. FRODEBU was legalized as a political party in 1992.^[1]

In 1993, FRODEBU won power in Burundi and put forward a Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye. The election of a Hutu government triggered violence between Hutu and Tutsi militias, and President Ndadaye was assassinated. In retaliation, some 25,000 Tutsis were killed. The Tutsis responded with an outbreak of violence against Hutus and killed civilians in retaliation. The violence was on a smaller scale than the mass genocide occurring in Rwanda where Hutu were massacring Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

By mid-1994, FRODEBU had been severely crippled by a loss of leadership; of its 11-strong central committee prior to the 1993 elections, by that point only Sylvestre Ntibantunganya remained active with the party in Burundi. Six of the committee members had been killed, while the remainder had fled into exile.^[2]

In the legislative 2005 parliamentary election, the party won 21.7% of the vote and 30 out of 118 seats,^[3] becoming the main opposition party.^[4]

FRODEBU suspended its participation in the National Assembly on 21 February 2008 to protest efforts by the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD/FDD) to remove Alice Nzomukunda, a former CNDD/FDD member, from her post as vice-president of the National Assembly.^[4]

FRODEBU is a consultative member of the Socialist International.^[5]

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1993	Melchior Ndadaye	1,483,904	65.68%	Elected Y
2010	Boycotted

National Assembly elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position
1993	1,532,106	72.58%	65 / 81	65	1st
2005	525,336	21.70%	30 / 118	35	2nd

Ndadaye speaking at a FRODEBU rally following his electoral victory in 1993

Senate elections

Election	Seats	+/–	Position
2005	5 / 49	5	2nd

References

1. Amnesty International (22 March 2001). "Glossary of Burundian political parties and armed opposition groups relevant to the conflict in Burundi" (PDF). International Documentation Network on the African Great Lakes Region. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
2. "Burundi : On a knife's edge". Africa Confidential. Vol. 35, no. 16. 1994.
3. 2005 National Assembly Elections in Burundi, IPU PARLINE
4. "Burundi's main opposition party suspends participation in parliament" Archived 2 January 2013 at archive.today, Panapress (Afrik.com), 22 February 2008.
5. List of Socialist International parties in Africa Archived 28 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.