The Cameroonian Union (french: Union camérounaise or UC) was a

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

ian pro-independence party active in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

territory of

Cameroun Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. 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, holding the office from 1960 until 1982. Ahidjo played a major role in Cameroon's independence from France as well as ...

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 (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...

Fula people The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

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 by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

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 Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) was a pro-independence political party active in Southern Cameroons (now known as Ambazonia) during the period of British Mandate rule. Pre-independence The KNDP was formed in 1955 by John Ngu Foncha. The ...

(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; french: Rassemblement démocratique du Peuple Camerounais, RDPC) is the ruling political party in Cameroon. Previously known as the Cameroonian National Union, which had dominated Cameroon politic ...

, 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