Ferhat Abbas
The MTLD was created on the same platform as that of the PPA, that is full independence for Algeria. A month after its creation it won five seats (out of 15 elected) in the November 'two colleges' Algerian elections, despite numerous irregularities. During that same election Ferhat Abbas was elected under the banner of the Union Democratique du Manifeste Algerien (UDMA), a party he formed in the same year. In the 1948 elections, the MTLD lost all seats, and in 1950, it was repressed by the police.