The Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement (, MDES) is a pro-independence

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Platform

The principal platform of the party is the demand for independence of Guiana, currently an

overseas region The overseas departments and regions of France (, ; DROM) are the five departments and regions of the French Republic which are located outside European France (also known as " metropolitan France"). These overseas entities have exactly the s ...

and one of the 26

regions of France France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collectivities, which ha ...

. They also consider the possibility of becoming an

overseas territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

, which is different from an overseas region.

Election participation

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, the MDES obtained 3 seats in the regional elections with 8.6% of the vote. However, in the 2004 regional elections, the MDES list put forward by Maurice Pindard obtained only 6.55% of the vote and no seats. In 2012 parliamentary elections, the MDES obtained 17.30% of votes. Alain Tien-Liong, who represented the Cayenne South-West constituency in the body, served as president of the

General Council of French Guiana The General Council of French Guiana ( French: ''Conseil général de la Guyane'') was the deliberative executive assembly of the French Department of French Guiana. (French Guiana was also a French region France is divided into eighteen ad ...

from 2004 to 2015. In the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...

, MDES candidate

Jean-Victor Castor Jean-Victor Castor (born 21 April 1962) is a French politician who was elected to represent French Guiana's 1st constituency in the 2022 legislative election. He is a member of the Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement (MDES), a pro ...

was elected to represent French Guiana's 1st constituency in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

''Ròt Kozé''

The party runs a newspaper ''Ròt Kozé'' (a

French Guianese Creole French Guianese Creole (Kriyòl; also called variously Guianan Creole, Guianese Creole in English and Créole guyanais in French) is a French-based creole language spoken in French Guiana, and to a lesser degree, in Suriname and Brazil. It re ...

term that means "Other speech"; '), which advocates for autonomy for French Guiana.

References

External links

1991 establishments in French Guiana Left-wing nationalist parties Nationalist parties in France Nationalist parties in South America Political parties established in 1991 Political parties in French Guiana Separatist political parties in France Socialism in French Guiana Socialist parties in France {{France-party-stub