Democratic Movement for the Renaissance and Evolution of Central Africa

The Democratic Movement for the Renaissance and Evolution of Central Africa (French: Mouvement Démocratique pour la Renaissance et l'Evolution en Centrafrique, MDREC) is a political party in the Central African Republic.

History

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The party was established in 1990,[1] and led by Joseph Bendounga, a campaigner for democracy and mayor of the capital Bangui. In mid-1992 Bendounga was arrested and sent to prison for six months for criticising President André Kolingba.[2]

In the 1993 general elections the party won a single seat in the National Assembly.[3] In the 1999 presidential elections the party supported incumbent President Ange-Félix Patassé. Although Bendounga was chosen as the party's candidate for the 2005 presidential elections and he applied to contest the elections,[4] his name did not appear on the ballot.[2]

The party contested the 2011 parliamentary elections, although it only put forward two candidates,[5] and failed to win a seat. It subsequently backed Séléka in their overthrow of the President François Bozizé in 2013.[6]

References

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  1. ^ CAR: Parties that contested the 2011 National Assembly election Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine EISA
  2. ^ a b Arthur Banks, Thomas C Muller, William R Overstreet & Judith F Isacoff (2009) Political Handbook of the World 2009, CQ Press, p236
  3. ^ Elections in the Central African Republic African Elections Database
  4. ^ 14 register to contest presidential election in CAR Panapress, 17 December 2004
  5. ^ CAR: Number of National Assembly candidates by party in the 2011 election Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine EISA
  6. ^ Tom Lansford (2014) Political Handbook of the World 2014, CQ Press, p254