Front for Democracy in Burundi

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party Template:Melchior Ndadaye sidebar The Front for Democracy in Burundi (Template:Langx, 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the legislative 2005 parliamentary election, the party won 21.7% of the vote and 30 out of 118 seats,<ref>2005 National Assembly Elections in Burundi, IPU PARLINE</ref> becoming the main opposition party.<ref name="Alice">"Burundi's main opposition party suspends participation in parliament" Template:Webarchive, Panapress (Afrik.com), 22 February 2008.</ref>

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.<ref name="Alice"/>

FRODEBU is a consultative member of the Socialist International.<ref>List of Socialist International parties in Africa Template:Webarchive.</ref>

Electoral history

Presidential elections

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

National Assembly elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position
1993	1,532,106	72.58%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 65	Template:Increase 1st
2005	525,336	21.70%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 35	Template:Decrease 2nd
2010	Boycotted
2015	Boycotted
2020	31,106	0.73%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Decrease 4th

File:Melchior Ndadaye speaking at a FRODEBU rally.jpg

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

Senate elections

Election	Seats	+/–	Position
2005	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 5	Template:Increase 2nd
2010	Boycotted
2015	Boycotted

References

Template:Africa-party-stub Template:Burundi-stub