Ferhat Abbas
After 1948, fraud in the elections prevented nationalist parties from any significant success in the elections. Nevertheless, the UDMA took part in the electoral campaign. After the creation of the FLN (National Liberation Front) and the beginning of the War for Independence, negotiations took place to discuss the UDMA's merging with the FLN. In the end, it was decided that the UDMA, like the Algerian Communist Party, would dissolve and that its members would individually join the FLN. Ferhat Abbas and Ahmed Francis, two of the most prominent party leaders, fled to Cairo and joined the FLN leadership.