Unity and Progress Party

Unity and Progress Party
Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès
AbbreviationPUP
Co-founderLansana Conté
Founded1992
HeadquartersConakry
IdeologyAfrican nationalism
Economic liberalism
Authoritarianism
Anti-socialism
Political positionRight-wing

The Unity and Progress Party (French: Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès, PUP, founded in 1992) is a political party in Guinea. It functioned as the ruling party during much of the long rule (1984-2008) of President Lansana Conté. In terms of ideology, the PUP advocates the unity of Guineans and economic liberalism.

In the parliamentary election held on 30 June 2002, the party won 61.57% of the popular vote and 85 out of 114 seats. Its candidate in the 21 December 2003 presidential election, Lansana Conté, won 95.25% of the vote; however, opposition groups generally boycotted this election.[1]

Following Conté's death on December 22, 2008, members of the military seized power in a coup d'état, ending the rule of the PUP. The party has continued to exist since the coup, although in a severely weakened form. It nominated Aboubacar Somparé - a prominent figure in the Conté regime and the man who would have been the constitutional successor to Conté had the military not intervened - as its candidate for the June 2010 presidential election, but he received only about 1% of the vote.

  1. ^ "Elections in Guinea". Retrieved 2007-02-24.