The Rally of Democratic Forces (; , RFD), or Assembly of Democratic Forces, is a

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, ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. It is led by Ahmed Ould Daddah. In October 2000, the Union of Democratic Forces-New Era, which was led by Daddah, was dissolved by the Mauritanian Government for allegedly inciting violence and harming the country's interests. In its place the Rally of Democratic Forces was established, and Daddah was elected its president in January 2002. In the parliamentary election held on October 19 and 26 October 2001, the party won 5.6% of the popular vote and three out of 81 seats. Daddah declared the RFD to be "the country's biggest political force" after the first round of the 2006 Mauritanian parliamentary election, held on 19 November. The RFD participated in this election as part of an eight-party opposition alliance. It won 15 out of 95 seats, in the 21 January and 4 February 2007

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

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 ...

seven out of 56 seats. In the 11 March and 25 March 2007 presidential election, Daddah, the party's candidate, won 20.69% in the first round, but was defeated in the second round with 47.15%. Daddah said on May 7, 2008, that the RFD would not participate in the government of Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef, despite Waghef's consultations with opposition parties regarding the formation of a new government. The RFD supported the military coup d'état of August 6, 2008. Daddah described the coup as "a movement to rectify the democratic process" and alleged that the 2007 presidential election was "marked by fraud". The RFD is an observer 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 ...

."Socialist International welcomes release of Mauritanian opposition leader"
Socialist International, February 4, 2005.

Electoral performance

National Assembly

References

{{Mauritanian political parties 2002 establishments in Mauritania Full member parties of the Socialist International Political parties established in 2002 Political parties in Mauritania Progressive parties Social democratic parties in Mauritania