Voltaic Democratic Movement (in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: Mouvement Démocratique Voltaïque) was a 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...

 in Upper Volta

Republic of Upper Volta

The Republic of Upper Volta was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. On August 5, 1960 it attained full independence from France.Thomas Sankara came to power...

, led by Gérard Kango Ouédraogo

Gérard Kango Ouedraogo

Gérard Kango Ouédraogo served as Prime Minister of Upper Volta from 13 February 1971 to 8 February 1974. He was subsequently President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso from 1978 to November 25, 1980....

. MDV was founded in 1955.

In the 1957 territorial assembly elections MDV came second with 26 seats. After the elections it formed a government together with the Unified Democratic Party

Unified Democratic Party

Unified Democratic Party , was, despite its name, not a political party but an electoral alliance of two parties, the Voltaic Democratic Union and the Social Party for the Emancipation of the African Masses , ahead of the 1958 territorial assembly elections in Upper Volta...

. That government didn't last though, and MDV joined the Voltaic Solidarity

Voltaic Solidarity

Voltaic Solidarity was a political alliance in Upper Volta formed after the territorial elections in 1957. SV was constituted by the Social Party for the Emancipation of the African Masses , African Popular Movement and the Voltaic Democratic Movement...

 (SV) grouping instead. Thus it lost government power.

In 1958 MDV, along with the rest of SV, merged into the African Regroupment Party

African Regroupment Party

The African Regroupment Party was a political party in the French African colonies.-Formation:The PRA came into being at a meeting in Paris on March 26, 1958, months before the French Community would replace the French Union. The main founding organizations were the African Convention and the...

(PRA).

Source: Englebert, Pierre. La Revolution Burkinabè. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986.