In many post-conflict countries around the globe, former rebel groups participate in elections as newly formed political parties ('rebel parties'). This study deals with rebel party development in Africa and asks to what extent institutional context factors influence electoral participation and success in this region. It develops a new framework for systematic data collection on all African cases since 1989 and a comparative analysis of rebel parties using several fs QCAs (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis). Its findings show that institutions such as peace agreements strongly influence opportunity structures for rebel parties, which culminate in path dependencies, and that more democratic settings hamper rebel party formation and their success in many cases.