Union for National Progress

Template:Short description Template:Infobox political party The Union for National Progress (Template:Langx, UPRONA) is a nationalist political party in Burundi. Initially it emerged as a nationalist united front in opposition to Belgian colonial rule but subsequently became an integral part of the one-party state established by Michel Micombero after 1966. Dominated by members of the Tutsi ethnic group and increasingly intolerant to their Hutu counterparts, UPRONA remained the dominant force in Burundian politics until the latter stages of the Burundian Civil War in 2003. It is currently a minor opposition party.

HistoryEdit

Sources differ on the circumstances of UPRONA's founding.Template:Sfn According to political scientist Warren Weinstein, UPRONA was created shortly after a 1958 meeting of customary chiefs and clergy convened by Burundian prince Louis Rwagasore and Léopold Biha to discuss nationalist ideas.Template:Sfn According to Biha, UPRONA was created in 1957 to protest a Belgian administrative reorganisation that disempowered the monarchy.Template:Sfn According to linguist Ellen K. Eggers, UPRONA was formed in the late 1950s and Rwagasore became heavily involved with it in 1958.Template:Sfn Historian Ludo De Witte wrote that Rwagasore and some associates organised the first UPRONA meetings in September and October 1958.Template:Sfn According to Governor Jean-Paul Harroy, Rwagasore founded the party in late 1959. It received official recognition from the colonial administration as a political party on 7 January 1960.Template:Sfn

Rwagasore took virtual control over the movement, though his familial connection to the Mwami disqualified him from holding any party offices and he officially served UPRONA only as an advisor.Template:Sfn UPRONA was able to secure the early financial support of the Swahili population in Bujumbura and Lake Tanganyika coastline. The party initially was strongly identified with the interests of the Bezi lineage of Ganwa and support for traditional institutions, but this alignment fell apart after Rwagasore came into conflict with his father.Template:Sfn Under Rwagasore, UPRONA pushed a program of modernisation, committing neither to a return to the feudal system nor a complete societal transformation.Template:Sfn He used symbols of the monarchy to communicate his message and often emphasised his princely status at public appearances, but he stressed that UPRONA would support the monarchy "only insofar as this regime and its dynasty favoured the genuine emancipation of the Murundi people".Template:Sfn

Rwagasore sought to transform UPRONA into a mass party with broad-base appeal across different regions, ethnicities, and castes.Template:Sfn Wary of the growing Hutu–Tutsi ethnic conflict in Ruanda, he sought to counteract tensions by bringing members of both groups into UPRONA's leadership.Template:Sfn Formal party positions at both the national and local levels were usually evenly divided between Hutus and Tutsis, though the latter tended to occupy the most important offices.Template:Sfn The party enjoyed some cohesive success in Usumbura, but never truly cultivated a mass political base, especially outside the capital. UPRONA's internal rules set devolved responsibilities to the central committee, but in practice the party operated at the whim of Rwagasore; it retained relatively weak organisational capability and was held together by his charismatic leadership.Template:Sfn His populist tendencies and personal popularity led many of the original chiefs who had supported UPRONA, including founding member Biha, to leave the party and engage in their own political activities.Template:Sfn In their place, the party relied upon the support of seminary graduates, évolués, and younger chiefs.Template:Sfn

Shortly before Burundi's first municipal elections in 1960, the Belgian administration—fearful of communist sympathies in UPRONA—placed Rwagasore under house arrest and forced many other party figures into exile.Template:Sfn UPRONA declared a boycott of the electionsTemplate:Sfn which, UPRONA's rivals, specifically the Christian Democratic Party (Parti Démocratique Chrétien, PDC), performed well in, with Belgian support.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Of the 2,876 offices available, UPRONA won 545, while the PDC won 942.Template:Sfn UPRONA was not represented in the national transitional government established by the colonial administration in January 1961.Template:Sfn

For the 1961 legislative elections, UPRONA concentrated its entire election campaign on Rwagasore, using his charisma to rally substantial support.Template:Sfn Burundi hosted legislative elections on 18 September 1961. With approximately 80% voter turnout, UPRONA won 58 of 64 seats in the Legislative Assembly,Template:Sfn and Rwagasore was declared {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.Template:Sfn Ten days later the Legislative Assembly installed a 10-member government with Rwagasore as prime minister.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He was assassinated in October in a plot conceived by PDC figures, who were subsequently arrested and executed.Template:Sfn The murder fractured UPRONA, as Rwagasore's former lieutenants struggled to succeed him as the party's leader.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Conflict embroiled UPRONA over who would assume the party presidency, with André Muhirwa—the new prime minister—seeking it with the support of a Tutsi faction and Paul Mirerekano aiming to secure it with the backing of a Hutu faction.Template:Sfn Muhirwa's group would be dubbed the Casablanca faction, while Mirerekano's group would become known as the Monrovia faction.Template:Sfn The party increasingly split along ethnic lines.Template:Sfn The assumption of numerous UPRONA figures into official government roles also decimated the independent structure of the organisation.Template:Sfn In the county's 1965 elections, most UPRONA candidates faced opposition from others bearing the UPRONA label; in some constituencies, there as many as five competing slates of candidates with the same affiliation. In practice, there were two main factions: populaire or pro-Hutu and traditionaliste or pro Tutsi. Ultimately, UPRONA-aligned candidates won 21 of the 33 seats in the National Assembly.Template:Sfn

UPRONA's most famous Prime Minister and Burundian National Hero is Louis Rwagasore (assassinated in 1961). Upon the death of Rwagosore, UPRONA developed two factions which became known as the "Casablanca group" and the "Monrovia group". The former was dominated by Tutsis and anti-Western in its ideological orientation. The latter was led by Hutus and leaned either pro-West or was neutral towards it.<ref>Eggers, Ellen K. (2006). Historical Dictionary of Burundi (third ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5302-7.</ref> Ngendandumwe was associated with the Monrovia group.<ref>Eggers, Ellen K. (2006). Historical Dictionary of Burundi (third ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5302-7.</ref> From that time until 1965, the party also had some Hutu support, and three of its Hutu members, including Pierre Ngendandumwe, became Prime Minister of Burundi. The party was taken over by President Michel Micombero in a coup d'état and became a pillar of the military dictatorships that ruled the country from 1966 to 1993. In 1993, UPRONA placed second in contested elections to Melchior Ndadaye's FRODEBU.

UPRONA President Pierre Buyoya handed over power to Hutu leader Domitien Ndayizeye of the Front for Democracy in Burundi (a Hutu-based party) on 30 April 2003. At the legislative elections in 2005, the party won 7.2% and 15 out of 118 seats.

During the 2010 elections, UPRONA boycotted councillors' and presidential elections but decided to participate in the legislative elections claiming the need to form an opposition bloc in Parliament and to better compete in the 2015 elections.

Electoral historyEdit

Presidential electionsEdit

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1984	Jean-Baptiste Bagaza	1,752,579	99.6%	Elected Template:Y
1993	Pierre Buyoya	742,360	32.86%	Lost Template:Nay
2015	Gerard Nduwayo	60,380	2.14%	Lost Template:Nay
2020	Gaston Sindimwo	73,353	1.70%	Lost Template:Nay

National Assembly electionsEdit

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position
1961	627,453	81.23%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 58	Template:Increase 1st
1965			Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 37	Template:Steady 1st
1982			Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 31	Template:Steady 1st
1993	461,691	21.87%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 36	Template:Decrease 2nd
2005	174,575	7.21%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 15	Template:Decrease 3rd
2010	251,759	11.06%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 2	Template:Increase 2nd
2015	71,189	2.49%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 15	Template:Decrease 3rd
2020	108,865	2.54%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Steady 3rd

Senate electionsEdit

Election	Seats	+/–	Position
2005	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 2	Template:Increase 4th
2010	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Increase 2nd
2015	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Steady 2nd
2020	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	Template:Steady 2nd

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Works citedEdit

External linksEdit

UPRONA official website

Template:Burundian political parties Template:Authority control