Democratic League - Movement for the Labour Party
Encyclopedia
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
.
The congress of the General Union of Senegalese Students Probationary Teachers in Europe held in April 1975 provoked a split on behalf of the students of PAI
African Independence Party
African Independence Party was a communist party in French West Africa . PAI was founded in Thiès, Senegal in 1957...
. The students, who went on to form LD, wanted a more radical Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
party.
Beginning in 1978 one tendency led by Moussa Kane of takes contact with the PAI of Majhmout Diop. On March 29 Kane and his followers joined the legal PAI.
LD founded the monthly magazine Vérité.
LD was recognized as a legal political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
on July 9, 1981. After legalization it started publishing Fagaru.
In the late 1970s, LD started advocating the unification of the Marxist left in Senegal to a unitary party (they proposed the name Parti Sénégalais du Travail). Thus it later changed its name to LD/MPT.
The LD/MDT won three seats in the 1993 parliamentary election
Senegalese parliamentary election, 2007
Parliamentary elections were held in Senegal on 3 June 2007. They had originally been planned to be held together with the presidential election on 25 February 2007, but were postponed. 14 parties or coalitions participated in the election, in which the composition of the National Assembly, with...
and joined the Socialist Party-led government in June 1993, during the presidency of Abdou Diouf
Abdou Diouf
Abdou Diouf was the second President of Senegal, serving from 1981 to 2000. Diouf is notable both for coming to power by peaceful succession, and leaving willingly after losing the 2000 presidential election to Abdoulaye Wade...
. The party held two positions in the government. It left the government following the May 1998 parliamentary election
Senegalese parliamentary election, 1998
Parliamentary elections were held in Senegal on 24 May 1998. The result was a victory for the ruling Socialist Party, which won 93 of the 140 seats...
, in which it again won three seats. In March 1999, the LD/MPT and two other left-wing parties, And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism (AJ/PADS) and the Party of Independence and Labour
Party of Independence and Labour
The Party of Independence and Labour is a communist political party in Senegal. Its current general secretary is Amath Dansokho.PIT emerged out of the Senegalese branch of the African Independence Party . At the time of the 1960 local elections, PAI was accused by the government of fomenting...
(PIT), agreed to support the candidacy of opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade
Abdoulaye Wade
Abdoulaye Wade is the third and current President of Senegal, in office since 2000. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974...
of the Senegalese Democratic Party
Senegalese Democratic Party
The Senegalese Democratic Party is a political party in Senegal. The party considers itself a liberal party and is a member of the Liberal International. Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal's president, is the party's leader...
(PDS) in the 2000 presidential election
Senegalese presidential election, 2000
Presidential elections were held in Senegal on 27 February 2000, with a second round taking place on 19 March after no candidate won over 50% of votes in the first round...
. Wade was victorious in the second round of the 2000 election, and the LD/MPT then joined the first government under Wade, holding two ministries: LD/MPT Secretary-General Abdoulaye Bathily
Abdoulaye Bathily
Abdoulaye Bathily is a Senegalese politician and the Secretary-General of the Democratic League/Movement for the Labour Party .-Biography:Bathily was born in Tiyabu in Bakel Department...
became Minister of Energy and Hydraulics and Yéro Dé became Minister of the Civil Service, Employment and Labor.
In the 2001 parliamentary election
Senegalese parliamentary election, 2001
An election for the National Assembly of Senegal was held on 29 April 2001. The election was held under the new constitution approved by referendum earlier in the year...
, the LD/MPT was part of the ruling Sopi Coalition
Sopi Coalition
The Sopi Coalition is the governing political alliance in Senegal. The alliance is composed of the Senegalese Democratic Party and smaller parties, and it supports President Abdoulaye Wade, who is also the Secretary-General of the PDS.In the April 2001 parliamentary election, the Sopi Coalition...
(also including the PDS). The LD/MPT won seven seats in the National Assembly.
The two LD/MPT ministers in the government, Yéro Deh and Seydou Sy Sall (who was Minister of Town Planning and Regional Planning), were dismissed by Wade on March 9, 2005. The party had become highly critical of Wade and the government, and it was accused of violating "governmental solidarity by constant, unjust and unfounded attacks against the president, his government and his party". An important factor in this was the opposition of the LD/MPT to an amnesty regarding the 1993 assassination of Constitutional Council vice-president Babacar Sèye. Prior to the dismissal of its ministers, the LD/MPT had already intended to leave the government on April 24.
The party no longer identifies itself as a communist party.
The youth wing of LD/MPT is known as Democratic Youth Movement
Democratic youth movement
The Democratic Youth Movement , is a NGO in Bosnia and Herzegovina.It was founded in 2005, as youth movement for freedom, democracy and unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have never participated in regular elections, but they work on another level of activity...
(MDJ).