The Cameroonian Union () was a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian pro-independence party active in the French territory of

Cameroun Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. The UC was formed by

Ahmadou Ahidjo Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (24 August 192430 November 1989) was a Cameroonian politician who was the first president of Cameroon from 1960 until 1982. He was previously the first Prime Minister of Cameroon, Prime Minister from the country's indepe ...

in 1958 when he broke from André-Marie Mbida and the Bloc Démocratique Camerounaise.Ahmadou Ahidjo
/ref> Under Ahidjo, the UC was prepared to work with the French in order to achieve its goals of a united, independent Cameroon. Formed from an alliance in the legislature between political figures from the centre and south of the country and magnates from the

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Fula people The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

the UC emerged as the main party post-independence. The party had initially only won a slim majority in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

immediately after independence and was forced to govern by coalition. However, by 1963 the UC had absorbed its coalition partners and was very much the dominant party. Indeed, in the 1964 parliamentary elections the UC captured 98% of the vote in East Cameroon whilst in the 1965 Presidential election Ahidjo captured 99.95% of the vote as a joint UC- Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) candidate.Pick & Bloom, 'Cameroon', p. 349 The party dominated politics in Francophone Cameroon until in 1966 when it merged with the KNDP to become the

Cameroonian National Union The Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM; , RDPC) is the ruling political party in Cameroon. Previously known as the Cameroonian National Union, which had dominated Cameroon politics since independence in the 1960s, it was renamed in 1985 ...

, the single party of government.

References

Political parties established in 1958 Defunct political parties in Cameroon French Cameroon 1958 establishments in French Cameroon {{Cameroon-stub