The Chadian Progressive Party (, PPT), known as the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution (, MNRCS) for the last two years of its existence, was the first African political party in

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

. It was a regional branch of the

African Democratic Rally African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

(RDA).

History

The party was founded in February 1947,Chad: Defunct parties
EISA by

Gabriel Lisette Gabriel Francisco Lisette (2 April 1919 – 3 March 2001) was a Chadian politician who played a key role in the decolonization of Chad. Biography Of African descent, he was born at Portobelo, Panama, Portobelo in Panama on 2 April 1919. He bec ...

, who had been elected to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

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

the previous November. At first it attracted support mainly from the country's non-Muslim

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s. Although the PPT was a relatively moderate party and Lisette was close to

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, pr ...

, it was much more radical and nationalistic than its main rival, the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

-dominated

Chadian Democratic Union The Chadian Democratic Union (, UDT) was a political party in Chad. History The party was established in Fort Lamy in 1945. Following the General Council elections, members of the Chadian-French Progressive List (which had won 7 seats), Repu ...

(UDT). This was revealed by its motto: "Enough with cotton! Enough with taxes! Enough with chiefs!" (''Plus de coton! Plus d’impôts! Plus de chefs!''). It grew into an important opponent of the colonial administration, helping to organize syndical opposition in the Cotonfran factories. Meanwhile, the colonial administrators and chiefs were close to the UDT. Originally much weaker than the UDT, Lisette lost his seat in the National Assembly in the 1951 elections, in which the two second college seats were both won by the UDT. The 1952 local elections led to the

Bébalem massacre The Bébalem massacre () was a massacre of Sara farmers in the southern French Chad town of Bébalem. It was carried out on 16 April 1952 by Senegalese Tirailleurs on the orders of the French colonial authorities after the farmers had started p ...

carried out by colonial authorities after protesting farmers disputed the victory of the UDT over the PPT. The 1956 electoral reforms expanded the pool of eligible voters and saw power begin to pass to the Christian and Animist south where the PPT had most of its support. In the 1956 French National Assembly elections the PPT received the largest share of the vote in the second college, resulting in Lisette elected back to the National Assembly. In the Territorial Assembly elections the following year the PPT formed the Entente alliance with the

Grouping of Rural and Independent Chadians The Grouping of Rural and Independent Chadians (, GIRT) was a political party in Chad. History The party was founded in 1956, when the Gontchomé Sahoulba-led faction broke away from Chadian Social Action. The party mainly represented interests ...

, the

Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (, UDSR) was a French political party founded after the liberation of France from German occupation, mainly active during the Fourth Republic (1947–58). It was a loosely organised "cadre p ...

, Radicals and Radical Socialists and the Independent Socialist Party of Chad. The Entente won 57 of the 65 seats in the Assembly, with the PPT taking 32. As a result, Lisette became

Head of Government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

. The PPT went on to win the 1959 elections, taking 57 of the 84 seats. In 1962 a new constitution made Chad a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

, with the PPT as the sole legal party.Chad: Authoritarian regimes, elections and coups (1962–1996)
EISA As a result, the party won every seat 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 ...

in the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and 1969 parliamentary elections, whilst PPT leader

François Tombalbaye François Tombalbaye ( '; 15 June 1918 – 13 April 1975), also known as N'Garta Tombalbaye, was a Chadian politician who served as the first President of Chad from the country's independence in 1960 until his overthrow in 1975. A dictator ...

was re-elected President unopposed in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

. Whilst women formed an early part of the political party, by 1968

Kalthouma Nguembang Kalthouma Nguembang was a Chadian politician, who was an early member of the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT). She was elected to the National Assembly of Chad in 1968, but was later imprisoned by François Tombalbaye who accused her of plotting a ...

was the only woman in the National Assembly. In 1973 the party was renamed the "National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution" to consolidate support for Tombalbaye–who had changed his name to N'Garta–in the midst of a

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. However, two years later Tombalbaye was overthrown in a coup and the party was banned in April 1975.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

Notes

Within the Entente, the Chadian Progressive Party won 32 seats, the

won nine, the

won 7, Radicals and Radical Socialists won 7, the Independent Socialist Party of Chad won 1 in total the alliance won 57 seats

References