The movement emphasised the right of the majority ethnicity to rule and asserted the supremacy of Hutus over Tutsis.
It was the most important party of the "Hutu Revolution" of 1959–61 that led to Rwanda becoming an independent republic and Hutus superseding Tutsis as the ruling group.
[4] In 1961, parliamentary elections were held alongside a referendum on the Tutsi monarchy of Mwami Kigeri V. MDR-Parmehutu won 35 of the 44 seats in the Legislative Assembly, whilst the referendum saw the end of the monarchy.
[6] In the July 1973 coup, Kayibanda was ousted by his cousin Major-General Juvénal Habyarimana who, like other leaders from Rwanda's north (abakonde) felt marginalised by the Southern-dominated Parmehutu regime.
[7] The Parmehutu party was suspended and was officially banned two years later when Rwanda became a one-party state under Habyarimana's new National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), which was dominated by Hutu from the northern and northwestern parts of the country.