Unity and Progress Party explained

Unity and Progress Party
Native Name:	Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès
Abbreviation:	PUP
Leader1 Title:	Co-founder
Leader1 Name:	Lansana Conté
Foundation:	1992
Headquarters:	Conakry
Ideology:	African nationalism Economic liberalism Authoritarianism Anti-socialism
Position:	Right-wing
Country:	Guinea

The Unity and Progress Party (fr|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.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Votes	%	Result
		First round		Second round
1993	Lansana Conté	1,077,017	51.7%	-	-	Elected
1998		1,455,007	56.1%	-	-	Elected
2003			95.6%	-	-	Elected
2010	Aboubacar Somparé		0.95%	-	-	Lost

National Assembly elections

Election	Votes	%	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Result
	Constituency		Proportional
1995	990,184	53.5%				71	1st
2002	1,947,318	61.5%				14	1st
2013			13,503	0.43%		85	17th

Notes and References

1. Web site: Elections in Guinea . 2007-02-24 .