The National Revolutionary Movement for Development (, MRND) was the ruling political party of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

from 1975 to 1994 under President

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (; ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, his assassination in 1994. H ...

, running with first Vice President

Édouard Karemera Édouard Karemera (1 September 1951 – 31 August 2020) was a Rwandan politician who was convicted of genocide in 2011 after being apprehended in 1998. Born in Mwendo commune, Kibuye préfecture, Rwanda, Karemera held the position of Minister o ...

. From 1978 to 1991, the MRND was the only legal political party in the country. It was dominated by

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

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 his wife are known as the

akazu The Akazu (, ''little house'') was an informal organization of elite Hutu extremists whose members contributed strongly to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, genocide in Rwanda. A circle of relatives and close friends of Rwanda's then-president Juvénal ...

. In 1991, the party was renamed the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (, MRND or MRNDD). Following the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

in 1994, the party was banned.

History

The party was established by Habyarimana on 5 July 1975, exactly two years after he had ousted the first post-independence president

Grégoire Kayibanda Grégoire Kayibanda (1 May 192415 December 1976) was a Rwandan politician and revolutionary who was the first elected President of Rwanda from 1962 to 1973. An ethnic Hutu, he was a pioneer of the Rwandan Revolution and led Rwanda's struggle fo ...

in a ''coup d'état''. Habyarimana established a

totalitarian state Totalitarianism is a political system and a Government#Forms, form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely contr ...

and banned the

Parmehutu The Hutu Emancipation Movement Party (, Parmehutu), also known as the Republican Democratic Movement – Parmehutu (''Mouvement démocratique républicain – Parmehutu'', MDR-Parmehutu), was a political party in Rwanda. The movement emphasised ...

party, which had been dominated by Hutus from southern Rwanda. The MRND replaced Parmehutu as the sole legally permitted party in Rwanda. A new constitution was approved in a 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.

Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

were held in 1978 with Habyarimana as the sole candidate. He was re-elected with 99% of the vote.Elections in Rwanda
African Elections Database

Parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

followed in 1981, with two MRND candidates contesting each of the 64 seats. Habyarimana was re-elected again in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, whilst parliamentary elections were held under the same system in

(with the National Assembly enlarged to 70 seats) and

. The party's name was changed after the legalisation of opposition parties in 1991. The youth wing of the party, the ''

interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990, as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (M ...

'', later developed into a militia group that played a key role in the Genocide against Tutsi. 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 The Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (, CDR) was a Rwandan far-right Hutu Power political party that took a major role in inciting the Rwandan genocide. History The CDR was founded in 1992 and initially led by Martin Bucyana until his a ...

(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 The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...

led by

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame ( ; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded ...

, both the MRND and the CDR were driven from power and banned in July 1994.

Ideology

Habyarimana was described as relatively

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canad ...

, though he (and his regime) are said to have used propaganda methods, ethnically discriminating against the

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

(albeit less extreme than their predecessors), advanced a conservative social agenda and were

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

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

Chamber of Deputies elections

References

{{Authority control Far-right politics in Rwanda Parties of one-party systems

MRND The National Revolutionary Movement for Development (, 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 ...

1975 establishments in Rwanda Political parties established in 1975 1994 disestablishments in Rwanda Political parties disestablished in 1994 Rwandan genocide Banned far-right parties