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TheHutu Emancipation Movement Party (French:Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu, Parmehutu), also known as theRepublican Democratic Movement – Parmehutu (Mouvement démocratique républicain – Parmehutu, MDR-Parmehutu), was a political party inRwanda. The movement emphasised the right of the majority ethnicity to rule and asserted the supremacy ofHutus overTutsis. It was the most important party of the "Hutu Revolution" of 1959–61 that led to Rwanda becoming an independent republic and Hutus superseding Tutsis as the ruling group.^[1]

The party was founded byGrégoire Kayibanda in June 1957 as theHutu Social Movement, a party ofHutu nationalists who fought for the emancipation of the "oppressed" Hutu majority.^[3] It was renamed on 25 September 1959, and dominated the local elections in 1960, winning 2,390 of 3,125 elected communal council seats and 160 of 229burgomasters.^[4]

In 1961,parliamentary elections were held alongside areferendum on the Tutsi monarchy ofMwamiKigeri V. MDR-Parmehutu won 35 of the 44 seats in theLegislative Assembly, whilst the referendum saw the end of the monarchy. Kayibanda appointed a government of Hutus, and became president after independence in July 1962. By 1965, it was the only legal party in the country, and the1965 elections saw Kayibanda run unopposed for the presidency and the party win all 47 National Assembly seats.

Under the Parmehutu rule, Tutsis were severely discriminated against, persecuted, and repeatedly massacred,^[5] leading to hundreds of thousands of Tutsi fleeing the country. The1963 Tutsi massacres were described byBertrand Russell as "the worst since theHolocaust"; in 1967 another 20,000 Tutsi were killed.^[6]

In theJuly 1973 coup, Kayibanda was ousted by his cousin Major-GeneralJuvénal Habyarimana who, like other leaders from Rwanda's north (abakonde) felt marginalised by the Southern-dominated Parmehutu regime.^[7] The Parmehutu party was suspended and was officially banned two years later when Rwanda became aone-party state under Habyarimana's newNational Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), which was dominated by Hutu from the northern and northwestern parts of the country.^[1]

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1965	Grégoire Kayibanda	1,236,654	100%	ElectedY
1969		1,426,159	100%	ElectedY

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Result
1961	Grégoire Kayibanda	974,329	77.6%	35 / 44	35	1st	Supermajority government
1965		1,231,788	100%	47 / 47	12	1st	Sole legal party
1969		1,426,701	100%	47 / 47		1st	Sole legal party

• National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND)

• Saur, Léon (2009)."La frontière ethnique comme outil de conquête du pouvoir: le cas du Parmehutu".Journal of Eastern African Studies.3 (2):303–316.doi:10.1080/17531050902972956.S2CID 144820711.

• Defunct political parties in Rwanda
• Defunct political parties in Burundi
• 1957 establishments in Ruanda-Urundi
• Far-right politics in Rwanda
• Political parties established in 1957
• 1973 disestablishments in Rwanda
• Political parties disestablished in 1973
• Parties of one-party systems
• Ruanda-Urundi

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