The party was founded by
Charles Massi on 27 November 1997 and legally recognized on 4 May 1998. In the
1998 parliamentary elections it won two seats in the
National Assembly. Massi was the party's candidate for the
1999 presidential elections, finishing eighth out of ten candidates with 1.3% of the vote. In the first round of the
presidential elections held on 13 March 2005, Massi won 3.2% of the vote. He backed
François Bozizé in the second round and became a Minister of State in the government after the elections. In the simultaneous National Assembly elections, the party was reduced to a single seat. After Massi was appointed as Political Coordinator of the
Union of Democratic Forces for the Rally (UFDR) rebel group, FODEM rejected this move and expelled Massi from the party; it established a provisional political bureau on 22 May 2008 with
Joseph Garba Ouangolé as President. In 2010, FODEM joined the Presidential Majority alliance in preparation for the
2011 general elections. The party nominated six candidates for the 105 seats in the
National Assembly, and although the alliance won 11 seats, FODEM failed to win a seat. ==References==