Democratic Union of the Malian People

The party was founded by the CMLN military junta regime in order to provide it with political legitimacy. On 22 September 1975 Moussa Traoré announced that the party would be formed, with himself as general secretary.[2] Upon the restoration of civilian rule in 1979, it became the only legal party in Mali.

The UDPM organized itself along the Marxist-Leninist tenet of democratic centralism; but, as with many other African socialist parties, it did not identify itself as Marxist due to the perceived association between Marxism and atheism; the Malian political elite was mostly Muslim, and Muslim religious leaders played a key role in the independence movement. UDPM had a Central Executive Bureau with 19 members and a National Council with 137 members.[2] As the party's general secretary, Traoré was the only candidate for president of the republic. He was automatically elected for a six-year term and confirmed in office in the 1979 general elections, whilst voters were presented with a single list of UDPM candidates for the National Assembly. This was repeated in elections in 1982, 1985 and 1988.

Following a coup by Amadou Toumani Touré in 1991, the party was dissolved in the same year.