{{Infobox political party | name = Dahomeyan Unity Party | native_name = Parti Dahoméen de l'Unité | colorcode = {{party color|Dahomeyan Unity Party}} | logo = | leader = | headquarters = Porto-Novo, Dahomey | foundation = 13 November 1960 | dissolution = 13 November 1963 | merger = [[Republican Party of Dahomey]]<br>[[Dahomeyan Democratic Rally]]<br>National Liberation Movement | successor = [[Dahomeyan Democratic Party]] | ideology = [[African nationalism]]<br>[[African socialism]]<ref>Maurice A. Glélé, Naissance d'un état noir, l'évolution politique et constitutionnelle du Dahomey : de la colonisation à nos jours, p. 198</ref><br>[[Republicanism]]<br>'''Faction:'''<br />[[Welfarism]]<ref>Matthews, Ronald (1966), African Powder Keg: Revolt and Dissent in Six Emergent Nations, London: The Bodley Head, OCLC 246401461</ref><br>[[Foreign direct investment|Pro-Foreign investment]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/hubert-maga-1916-2000/ | title=Hubert Maga (1916-2000) | date=March 2022 }}</ref><ref>Matthews, Ronald (1966), African Powder Keg: Revolt and Dissent in Six Emergent Nations, London: The Bodley Head, OCLC 246401461</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhyfSQAACAAJ | title=Presidents of Benin: Hubert Maga, Sourou-Migan Apithy, Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, Maurice Kouandété, Mathieu Kérékou, Alphonse Alley | date=May 2010 | publisher=General Books | isbn=978-1-155-58059-3 }}</ref><br />[[Private ownership|Pro-Private ownership]]{{cn|date=April 2025}}<br />[[Nationalism]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mexicohistorico.com/paginas/benin-a-journey-towards-freedom-880a74ec.html | title=Benin: A Journey Towards Freedom }}</ref><br />[[Anti-Colonialism]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mexicohistorico.com/paginas/benin-a-journey-towards-freedom-880a74ec.html | title=Benin: A Journey Towards Freedom }}</ref> | position = | country = Benin }} {{Politics of Benin}}
The '''Dahomeyan Unity Party''' ({{langx|fr|Parti Dahoméen de l'Unité}}, PDU) was a [[political party]] in the [[Republic of Dahomey]].
==History== The party was established on 13 November 1960<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=3 September 1963|title=President Maga inaugurates PDU congress|magazine=Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts|issue=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WyjgxrPHKcC&pg=PA1|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|page=I1}}</ref> by the merger of the [[Republican Party of Dahomey]] (PRD) led by [[Sourou-Migan Apithy]], the [[Dahomeyan Democratic Rally]] (RDD) led by [[Hubert Maga]] and the National Liberation Movement (MLN) led by [[Jean Pliya]] and [[Albert Teveodjré]].<ref name=HDB>Mathurin C Houngnikpo & Samuel Decalo (2012) ''Historical Dictionary of Benin'', Scarecrow Press, p285</ref> The PRD and the RDD had previously merged in 1958 to form the [[Dahomeyan Progressive Party]], but had split the following year. [[Chabi Mama]] became the new party's secretary general.<ref name=HDB1>Houngnikpo & Decalo, p283</ref>
Changes to the electoral system made by Maga allowed the PDU to win all 60 seats in the [[Dahomeyan parliamentary election, 1960]]. The following year, the main opposition party, the [[Dahomeyan Democratic Union]], was banned and its leader [[Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin]] imprisoned.<ref>''Dictionary of African Biography'', Oxford University Press, p139</ref> As a result, the PDU became the sole legal party in the country.<ref>Houngnikpo & Decalo, p287</ref>
The party was dissolved on 13 November 1963<ref>{{cite act|legislature=The Presidency of the Republic of Dahomey|type=Ordonnance|index=1963-12|date=13 November 1963|title=Décret portant dissolution des partis et formations politiques|url=https://sgg.gouv.bj/doc/ordonnance-1963-12|language=fr|access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref> by [[Christophe Soglo]] after [[Hubert Maga]] was overthrown in a [[1963 Dahomeyan coup d'état|coup]], and a new party, the [[Dahomeyan Democratic Party]] was formed by Apithy and [[Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin]].<ref name=HDB1/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Beninese political parties}}
[[Category:Political parties established in 1960]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1963]] [[Category:Defunct political parties in Benin]] [[Category:Parties of one-party systems]] [[Category:1960 establishments in the Republic of Dahomey]]