The Front for Democracy in Burundi (, FRODEBU) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

political party in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

History

It was formed by followers of

Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian banker and politician who became the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundian presidential election, 1993 electi ...

from the disbanded Burundi Workers' Party in 1986. FRODEBU was legalized as a political party in 1992. In 1993, FRODEBU won power in Burundi and put forward a Hutu president,

. The election of a Hutu government triggered violence between Hutu and Tutsi militias, and President Ndadaye was assassinated. In retaliation, some 25,000 Tutsis were killed. The Tutsis responded with an outbreak of violence against Hutus and killed civilians in retaliation. The violence was on a smaller scale than the mass genocide occurring in Rwanda where Hutu were massacring Tutsis and moderate Hutus. By mid-1994, FRODEBU had been severely crippled by a loss of leadership; of its 11-strong central committee prior to the 1993 elections, by that point only Sylvestre Ntibantunganya remained active with the party in Burundi. Six of the committee members had been killed, while the remainder had fled into exile. In the legislative 2005 parliamentary election, the party won 21.7% of the vote and 30 out of 118 seats, becoming the main opposition party."Burundi's main opposition party suspends participation in parliament"
, Panapress (Afrik.com), 22 February 2008. FRODEBU suspended its participation 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 ...

on 21 February 2008 to protest efforts by the

National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(CNDD/FDD) to remove Alice Nzomukunda, a former CNDD/FDD member, from her post as vice-president of the National Assembly. FRODEBU is a consultative member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

.List of Socialist International parties in Africa
.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

Melchior Ndadaye speaking at a FRODEBU rally

Senate elections

References

1986 establishments in Burundi Democratic socialist parties in Africa Formerly banned socialist parties Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties established in 1986 Political parties in Burundi Socialism in Burundi {{Burundi-stub