National Movement for the Development of Society

_National Movement for the Society of Development The National Movement for the Development of Society (Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement, MNSD-Nassara) is a political party in Niger. Founded under the military government of the 1974–1990 period, it was the ruling party of Niger from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1999 until 2010, when a coup on 18 February 2010, by a military junta called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) ousted the president, Mamadou Tandja. The MNSD was founded in 1989 by President Ali Saibou, as the only legal party in the country. However, by the end of 1990, the Saibou regime acquiesced to union and student demands to institute a multi-party democratic system. In 1991, two factions emerged within the MNSD, one behind Mamadou Tandja (MNSD-Nassara) and the other behind Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye, both of whom had been important figures in the regime of Seyni Kountché. At a party congress in March 1991, Saibou retained his position as President of the MNSD, but at another congress held in November 1991, Tandja was elected as MNSD President, while Hama Amadou was elected as its Secretary-General. Tandja's obtaining of the party leadership over Djermakoye marked a departure from the traditional dominance of the party by Djermakoye's Zarma (Djerma) ethnic group. Djermakoye split from the MNSD and formed his own party, the Nigerien Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP). Tandja was the MNSD candidate in the 1993 presidential elections and was the leading candidate in the first round of voting with 34% of the vote. However, he was defeated in second round by the Democratic and Social Convention (CDS) candidate Mahamane Ousmane, who was backed by the Alliance of the Forces of Change (AFC), an alliance formed by the candidates who did not qualify for the second round. Although the MNSD won 29 seats in the 1993 parliamentary elections, emerging as the largest party, it went into opposition after the elections because the AFC parties held a majority of seats.