Mauritanian People's Party

The Parti du Peuple Mauritania or abbreviated PPM ( German as a party to the Mauritanian people ) is a Mauritanian political party and was from 1961 to 1978, the only legal party in the political system of the country.

After gaining independence from France in November 1960, President Moktar Ould Daddah founded the PPM as a merger of the former ruling party, Parti du Regroupement Mauritania ( PRM) and the opposition parties Association de la Jeunesse Mauritanienne ( AJM ) and its affiliated Morocco Nahda. In December 1961 thus the largest Mauritanian parties were united in a gathering to a single party. Moktar enacted a repressive law on political parties and decreed as president with virtually unlimited power. In July 1978, the first civilian government was replaced by a coup by the military and banned the party in an economic crisis.

Followed after each short tenures more military coups, until 1984 Colonel Taya came to power.