French Sudan elections held in French Sudan in 1957, the African Democratic Rally ("Rassemblement Démocratique Africain", commonly known as the RDA) won the elections in French Sudan, as well as winning majorities in neighboring Ivory Coast, French Guinea, and the Upper Volta. Following the French constitutional referendum of 1958, of which received an overwhelming majority in support, the "République Soudanaise" declared itself a republic with internal autonomy on 24 November 1958. The Sudanese Republic, as the area was now called, was the second colony after Madagascar to join the French Community, which provided it internal autonomy while linking its currency, foreign policy
Cercle (French colonial) sub-divisions. Cercle (French colonial) Cercle was the smallest unit of French political administration in French Colonial Africa that was headed by a European officer. A cercle consisted of several cantons, each of which in turn consisted of several villages, and was instituted in France's African colonies from 1895 to 1946. At the bottom of the European administration the "Cercle Commander" (""commandant de cercle"") was subject to the authority of a District Commander, and the government of the colony above him, but was independent of the Military structure (outside of Military areas, e.g. modern Niger and Mauritania prior to the Second