Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People

The Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (French: Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain, MLPC) is a political party in the Central African Republic. It was established in Paris in 1979 by former prime minister Ange-Félix Patassé as a Central African opposition movement. It called for the replacement of President David Dacko by a national council authorised to establish 'provisional government of national unity'.

Patassé was President of the Central African Republic from his election in 1993 to his ouster in 2003. In the last election, held on 13 March (first round) and 8 May 2005 (second round), the party backed Martin Ziguélé, Patassé's last prime minister, as its presidential candidate. Patassé, who was in exile, was initially the MLPC candidate, but he was barred from contesting the election due to charges against him regarding alleged wrongdoing while in office, and the party then backed Ziguélé's candidacy.^[1] Ziguélé won 23.53% of the vote in the first round and 35.40% in the second round.^[2] The party itself won 11 out of 105 seats in the National Assembly.^[3]

Ziguélé was elected as President of the MLPC at an extraordinary party congress in late June 2006, while Patassé was suspended from the party for one year.^[4][5] This was on a provisional basis for one year,^[6] until Ziguélé was elected to a three-year term as President at the MLPC's third ordinary congress, held from June 21 to June 23, 2007.^[7] At this congress, Patassé's suspension was extended until the next ordinary congress, and several individuals were excluded from the party, including former National Assembly President Luc Apollinaire Dondon Konamambaye.^[8] The first ordinary congresses of the MPLC's associated groups, the Movement for the Liberation of Central African Women (MLFC) and the Movement for the Liberation of Central African Youth (MLJC) were held prior to this party congress.^[9]

References

1. ^ "Le parti de l'ex-président centrafricain Patassé soutient Martin Ziguélé", AFP (izf.net), January 26, 2005 (French).
2. ^ "Rapport de la Mission d’Observation des Élections Présidentielle et Legislatives des 13 mars et 8 mai 2005 en République Centrafricaine"PDF (248 KiB), democratie.francophonie.org (French).
3. ^ "Bozizé fait coup double aux élections ", AFP (Sangonet.com), May 25, 2005 (French).
4. ^ "Centrafrique: Martin Ziguélé, ancien premier ministre, a été élu à la tête du MLPC, parti d'opposition, après un congrès extraordinaire de trois jours qui a décidé la radiation du parti de l'ancien Président centrafricain Ange-Félix Patassé", AFP (izf.net), June 25, 2006 (French).
5. ^ "Patassé suspendu du MLPC", Agence Centrafrique Presse, June 26, 2006 (French).
6. ^ "RCA: l'ex-Premier ministre Ziguélé élu chef du principal parti d'opposition", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), June 24, 2007 (French).
7. ^ "Centrafrique/Politique : Martin Ziguélé face à la presse ", Agence Centrafrique Presse, June 30, 2007 (French).
8. ^ "Et voici les Résolutions du Congrès de juin 2007 !", lemlpc.org, July 9, 2007 (French).
9. ^ "Conférence de Presse du 30 June 2007 : Déclaration Liminaire du Président", lemlpc.org, July 13, 2007 (French).

• Schmid, Alex Peter and Jongman, Albert J. (2005). Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, and Literature. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-4128-0469-8