Movement for Democratic Reform

Movement for Democratic Reform Mouvement pour la réforme démocratique
Abbreviation	MRD
Leader	Joseph Morin
Founded	22 January 1991 (as coalition) 4 August 1994 (as party)
Dissolved	10 December 1996
Succeeded by	Democratic Action (majority) Baptistois Labour Party (minority)
Ideology	Liberal democracy Factions: Liberalism Social democracy Liberal conservatism Perendist democracy
Political position	Big tent
Colors	Orange
Political parties

The Movement for Democratic Reform (Principean: Mouvement pour la réforme démocratique, MRD) was an electoral alliance and later political party in Saint-Baptiste. Formed from various movements and personalities associated with the reformist and pro-democratic faction in the country, the MRD dominated Baptistois politics in the early 1990s before collapsing into various competing organizations and dissolving in 1996. Initially planned as a broad tent political force meant to compete with the more organized and established Democratic Centre Union, the MRD featured numerous ideologies and tenants from both the political left and right. The organization was in large part superseded and succeeded by the National Action Party, which has successfully cemented itself as one of Saint-Baptiste's two main parties.

History

The Movement for Democratic Reform first emerged as a proposal by a range of reformist activists and politicians following the adoption of Saint-Baptiste's new constitution in 1990 and preceding the country's first free elections since 1947. Reformist candidates initially began to organize and run collectively as the unofficial Reform Movement (Principean: Mouvement de réforme) in order to compete against the larger and pro-regime Democratic Centre Union (UCD), and officially founded the Movement for Democratic Reform on 22 January 1991 as an electoral alliance of independent candidates, with left-wing labour activist Joseph Morin as directing chair. The group would soon help elect Samuel Lucy to the presidency, and later form a majority government in June of 1991, with Morin serving as Prime Minister.

The MRD's time in government showed how divergent the alliance's factions were, with infighting plaguing the cabinet and Chamber of Deputies. In 1993, a cabinet shuffle meant to shore up support on the alliance's left saw the economically liberal Minister of Finance and Infrastructure Emmanuel Ménard sacked, starting a chain reaction of public resignations and retirements. The Saint-Baptiste Labour Federation, the MRD's largest supporter in the labour movement, would abandon the group in favour of creating the Baptistois Labour Party as its own political arm that same year. Ménard himself would form the Democratic Action party in 1994, taking much of the MRD's liberal and middle-class base with him, and essentially splitting the reformist vote. The MRD attempted to stop its collapse in support by officially registering as a single political party on 4 August 1994, with Prime Minister Morin remaining leader of the now unified party.

Despite this, the Movement for Democratic Reform failed to recoup losses, and achieved only 21% of the popular vote and lost all of its seats in the 1995 parliamentary election, with the UCD forming a 13-seat majority government and Democratic Action forming the official opposition. The MRD continued to slide in the polls, with President Samuel Lucy winning only 17% of the vote and third place in the presidential election of 1996. The MRD officially disbanded as a registered party on 10 December 1996, with the majority of its remaining supporters moving to Democratic Action, which would rename itself to the National Action Party in 2000.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Election year	Leader	# of votes	% of vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Govt?
1991	Joseph Morin	8,361	51.61 (#1)	8 / 14	8	Majority
1995		3,102	21.15 (#2)	0 / 14	8	No representation

President

Election year	Candidate	1st round		2nd round
		# of votes	% of vote	# of votes	% of vote
1991	Samuel Lucy	7,605	47.59 (#1)	9,186	54.92 (#1)
1996	Samuel Lucy	2,394	17.40 (#3)