National Revolutionary Movement for Development

{{Short description|Rwandan ruling party from 1975 to 1994}} {{Infobox political party | name = National Revolutionary Movement for Development | native_name = Mouvement révolutionaire national pour le développement | native_name_lang = fr | seats1_title = [[National Development Council of Rwanda|National Development Council]] (1988) | seats1 = {{composition bar|70|70|hex={{party color|National Revolutionary Movement for Development}}}} | colorcode = Black | flag = Flag of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND).svg | founder = [[Juvénal Habyarimana]] | president = [[Juvénal Habyarimana]] (1975–1994) [[Théodore Sindikubwabo]] (1994) | leader1_title = Vice President | leader1_name = Eduoard Karemera | foundation = 5 July 1975 ({{ayd|1975|7|5}}) | banned = 15 July 1994 ({{ayd|1994|7|15}}) | predecessor = [[Parmehutu]] | successor = [[Army for the Liberation of Rwanda]] (not legal successor) | headquarters = [[Kigali]], [[Rwanda]] | newspaper = ''[[Kangura]]'' [[Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines|RTLM]] (Radio) | youth_wing = ''[[Interahamwe]]''<ref name=Fascism>{{cite web |date= 2024-11-20 |title= Far-Right Politics and Its Historical Marriage to Fascism |url= https://brewminate.com/far-right-politics-and-its-historical-marriage-to-fascism/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher= Brewminate |language=en |quote= On 5 July 1975, exactly two years after the 1973 Rwandan coup d’état, the far right National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) was founded under president Juvénal Habyarimana. [...] The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the MRND and enjoyed the backing of the Hutu Power government.}}</ref> | ideology = [[Hutu]] [[nationalism]] [[Social conservatism]]<ref name="Bauer"/> [[Totalitarianism]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/92171/GS19.pdf|title=Peasant Ideology and Genocide in Rwanda Under Habyarimana|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref> [[Anti-communism]]<ref name="ButareK"/> '''Factions:''' [[Hutu Power]] [[Ultranationalism]] [[Ethnic nationalism|Ethnonationalism]] | position = [[Right-wing]] to [[Far-right politics|far-right]]<ref name=Fascism /> | international = [[Centrist Democrat International|Christian Democrat and People's Parties International]] | logo = Coat of arms of Rwanda (1962-2001).svg | colours = {{Color box|black|border=darkgray}} [[Black]] | country = Rwanda }} {{Politics of Rwanda}} {{Juvénal Habyarimana sidebar}} The '''National Revolutionary Movement for Development''' ({{langx|fr|Mouvement révolutionnaire national pour le développement}}, MRND) was the ruling political party of [[Rwanda]] from 1975 to 1994 under President [[Juvénal Habyarimana]], running with first Vice President [[Édouard Karemera]]. From 1978 to 1991, the MRND was the only legal political party in the country. It was dominated by [[Hutu]]s, particularly from President Habyarimana's home region of Northern Rwanda. The elite group of MRND party members who were known to have influence on the President and [[Agathe Habyarimana|his wife]] are known as the [[akazu]].<ref name="Aspegren">{{Cite book |first=Lennart |last=Aspegren |title=Never again?: Rwanda and the World |work=Human Rights Law: From Dissemination to Application — Essays in Honour of Göran Melander |series=The Raoul Wallenberg Institute human rights library |volume=26 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=9004151818 |page=173}}</ref> In 1991, the party was renamed the '''National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development''' ({{langx|fr|Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement}}, MRND or MRNDD).

Following the [[Rwandan genocide]] in 1994, the party was banned.

==History== The party was established by Habyarimana on 5 July 1975,<ref>{{cite book |last=Guichaoua |first=André |title=From War to Genocide: Criminal Politics in Rwanda, 1990–1994 |date=2015 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=9780299298203 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KseuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 14] |language=en}}</ref> exactly two years after he [[1973 Rwandan coup d'état|had ousted]] the first post-independence president [[Grégoire Kayibanda]] in a ''coup d'état''. Habyarimana established a [[totalitarian state]] and banned the [[Parmehutu]] party, which had been dominated by Hutus from southern Rwanda.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Stephanie L. |last=Mckinney |title=Narrating genocide on the streets of Kigali |work=The Heritage of War |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |page=161}}</ref> The MRND replaced Parmehutu as the [[one-party state|sole legally permitted party]] in Rwanda.<ref name="Niesen">{{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Niesen |title=Political party bans in Rwanda 1994–2003: three narratives of justification |work=Ethnic Party Bans in Africa |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |page=113}}</ref> A new constitution was approved in a [[Rwandan constitutional referendum, 1978|1978 referendum]]. It codified the MRND's status as the only legal party, and declared that every Rwandan citizen was automatically a member of the MRND.<ref>Aimable Twagilimana (2007) ''Historical Dictionary of Rwanda'', Scarecrow Press, p. 116.</ref><ref>[http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/constit/rw1978.htm Constitution de la République Rwandaise du 20 décembre 1978], Art. 7: "Tout Rwandais est de plein droit membre du Mouvement révolutionnaire national pour le développement."</ref>

[[Rwandan presidential election, 1978|Presidential elections]] were held in 1978 with Habyarimana as the sole candidate. He was re-elected with 99% of the vote.<ref name=AED>[http://africanelections.tripod.com/rw.html Elections in Rwanda] African Elections Database</ref> [[Rwandan parliamentary election, 1981|Parliamentary elections]] followed in 1981, with two MRND candidates contesting each of the 64 seats. Habyarimana was re-elected again in [[Rwandan presidential election, 1983|1983]] and [[Rwandan presidential election, 1988|1988]], whilst parliamentary elections were held under the same system in [[Rwandan parliamentary election, 1983|1983]] (with the National Assembly enlarged to 70 seats) and [[Rwandan parliamentary election, 1988|1988]].

The party's name was changed after the legalisation of opposition parties in 1991. The youth wing of the party, the ''[[interahamwe]]'', later developed into a militia group that played a key role in the [[Rwandan genocide|Genocide against Tutsi]].<ref name="Niesen"/> After Habyarimana's death in April 1994, hardline elements of the party were among the chief architects of the genocide; the [[Coalition for the Defence of the Republic]] (CDR), which played a significant role, was originally a hard-line faction of the MRND that became a separate party.

After Rwanda was conquered by the rival Tutsi-dominated [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]] led by [[Paul Kagame]], both the MRND and the CDR were driven from power and banned in July 1994.<ref>Robert E. Gribbin (2005) ''In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda'', iUniverse, p153</ref>

==Ideology== Habyarimana was described as relatively [[Moderate (politics)|moderate]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Murphy |first=Sean D. |title=Humanitarian intervention: The United Nations in an evolving world order |volume=21 |series=Procedural aspects of international law series |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1996 |isbn=0812233824 |page=243}}</ref><ref name="Feher">{{Cite book |first=Michael |last=Feher |title=Powerless by Design: The Age of the International Community |series=Public Planet Series |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0822326132 |page=[https://archive.org/details/powerlessbydesig00mich/page/59 59] |url=https://archive.org/details/powerlessbydesig00mich/page/59 }}</ref> though he (and his regime) are said to have used propaganda methods, [[Discrimination#Race or ethnicity|ethnically discriminating]] against the [[Tutsi]] (albeit less extreme than their predecessors),<ref name="Feher"/><ref name="Somerville">{{Cite book |first=Keith |last=Somerville |title=Radio Propaganda and the Broadcasting of Hatred: Historical Development and Definitions |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2012 |page=167}}</ref> advanced a conservative social agenda<ref name="Bauer">{{Cite book |last=Bauer |first=Gretchen |title=Sub-Saharan Africa |work=Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview |publisher=Routledge |year=2011 |isbn=9781136819155 |page=93}}</ref> and were [[anti-communist]].<ref name="ButareK">{{Cite book |first=James |last=Butare-Kiyovu |chapter=Discovering and Addressing the Root Causes of Genocide in Rwanda |title=International Development from a Kingdom Perspective |series=William Carey International University international development series |publisher=WCIU Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780865850286 |page=159}}</ref>

==Structure== Habyarimana was the president of the party, and as such was the only candidate for president of the republic. However, in a minor concession to democracy, voters were presented with two MRND candidates at Legislative Assembly elections.

== Electoral history ==

=== Presidential elections === {| class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Election !Party candidate !Votes !% !Result |- |[[1978 Rwandan presidential election|1978]] | rowspan="3" |[[Juvénal Habyarimana]] | |98.99% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- |[[1983 Rwandan presidential election|1983]] | |99.97% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- |[[1988 Rwandan presidential election|1988]] | |99.98% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |}

=== National Development Council elections === {| class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Election !Party leader !Votes !% !Seats !+/– !Position !'''Result''' |- |[[1981 Rwandan parliamentary election|1981]] | rowspan="3" |[[Juvénal Habyarimana]] |2,100,770 |100% |{{Composition bar|64|64|hex=black}} |{{increase}} 64 |{{increase}} 1st | {{yes2|Sole legal party}} |- |[[1983 Rwandan parliamentary election|1983]] |2,364,592 |100% |{{Composition bar|70|70|hex=black}} |{{increase}} 6 |{{steady}} 1st | {{yes2|Sole legal party}} |- |[[1988 Rwandan parliamentary election|1988]] |2,701,682 |100% |{{Composition bar|70|70|hex=black}} |{{steady}} |{{steady}} 1st | {{yes2|Sole legal party}} |}

== See also == *[[Parmehutu]] *[[Edouard Karemera]] *[[Coalition for the Defence of the Republic]]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Far-right politics in Rwanda]] [[Category:Parties of one-party systems]] [[Category:Defunct political parties in Rwanda|MRND]] [[Category:1975 establishments in Rwanda]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1975]] [[Category:1994 disestablishments in Rwanda]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1994]] [[Category:Rwandan genocide]] [[Category:Banned far-right political parties]]