Parti des déshérités de Madagascar

The Parti des déshérités de Madagascar (PADESM, "Party of the Disinherited of Madagascar") was a political party active in French Madagascar from June 1946 until independence from France and the establishment of the First Malagasy Republic in 1960. It was formed largely in opposition to rapid political success of the Mouvement Démocratique de la Rénovation Malgache (MDRM), a predominantly Merina pro-independence nationalist party.

While the MDRM and other nationalist parties enjoyed broad support across various ethnic communities, PADESM focused on empowering and ensuring fair governance for the historically marginalized coastal people which had a long history of conflict with the agrarian and caste-oriented Merina. PADESM strategically campaigned along ethnic lines, initially welcoming both coastal people and descendants of Merina slaves from other ethnic groups. The French colonial administration actively supported PADESM's formation and helped facilitate its political success.

The nationalist Malagasy Uprising of 1947 led the French colonial administration to dissolve the MDRM and temporarily suspend all other political parties in Madagascar, including PADESM in spite of their previous support. During the uprising, political tensions escalated into targeted acts of violence between supporters of the rival groups. It is estimated that pro-MDRM fighters killed between 1,900 and 5,000 PADESM supporters killed during the uprising. However, by December 1948 the uprising had been largely suppressed by colonial authorities, allowing PADESM to resume its political activities while the MDRM would be banned due to its involvement, with most of its leaders either imprisoned or killed in the conflict. As a result, PADESM experienced an increase in popularity, aided by continuing French support.

Although PADESM won several key political elections in the 1950s, the party would grow increasingly fragmented between conservative and progressive factions. Friction between the two groups increased as France increased the political autonomy of its overseas territories, with the progressives and conservatives split over how the country would be run when the day of independence inevitably came. In December 1956, the progressives, led by Philibert Tsiranana left to form the Parti sociale démocrate (PSD, Social Democratic Party). With this split and independence in 1960, PADESM grew irrelevant and would eventually cease to exist as a political force.

Nevertheless, PADESM has had a lasting impact on political life in Madagascar. Philibert Tsiranana went on to become Madagascar's first president upon independence in 1960. Many other major political figures in Madagascar have connections to the former PADESM, including former president Didier Ratsiraka and former prime minister Jacques Sylla. More importantly, it was the formation of PADESM that cemented ethnic rivalries within Malagasy politics, linking the interests of specific ethnic groups with particular political parties. This has persisted in defining the political development in Madagascar into the present day, as it has for much of Africa in the post-colonial era.