Union of Democrats for Citizenship and Development () is a former

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, ...

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

, formed in January 2005. The party was formed amongst dissidents from the

Independent Democratic Action The Independent Democratic Action () is a political party in São Tomé and Príncipe. It was established in 1994 by the then president Miguel Trovoada and is a politically centrist party. It took part in the 29 July 2001 presidential election ...

(ADI). The UDD failed to win any seats 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 ...

following

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 ...

held on 26 March 2006. The party supported

Patrice Trovoada Patrice Émery Trovoada (born 18 March 1962) is a São Toméan politician who was the 15th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from November 2022 to 6 January 2025. He previously served as prime minister from February 2008 to June 2008, f ...

in the 30 July 2006

presidential election 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 p ...

. He won 38.82% of the vote, finishing a distant second to the incumbent

Fradique de Menezes Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes (born 21 March 1942) is a São Toméan politician who was the third president of São Tomé and Príncipe from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2003 to 2011. Early life Menezes was born on the then Portuguese colony ...

, who received 60.58% of the vote.

Merger and coalition

In late October 2017 the party and the

Force for Change Democratic Movement – Liberal Party The Force for Change Democratic Movement-Liberal Party () is a former political party in São Tomé and Príncipe. It was formed after the 29 July 2001 presidential elections by supporters of the elected president Fradique de Menezes. Tomé Vera ...

(MDFM–PL) formed the MDFM–UDD union (initially known as MDFM/PL–UDD). The two parties formally merged as the MDFM–UDD Union in August 2018. Carlos Neves was elected chairman of the MDFM–UDD Union at its constitutive congress in August 2018. In August 2018 the new party entered into an electoral alliance with the PDC, which gained 9.5% of the vote and 5 seats in the 2018 parliamentary elections.

References

Political parties established in 2005 Political parties in São Tomé and Príncipe Centrist parties in Africa {{SaoTomePrincipe-stub