Republican Party (France)

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The Republican Party (Parti républicain, PR) was a French right-wing political party founded in 1977. It replaced the National Federation of the Independent Republicans created by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who was President of France since 1974.

In 1978, the Republican Party allied with centrist groups to form the Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française, UDF), a confederation created in order to support President Giscard d'Estaing and counterbalanced the Rally for the Republic preponderance over the right.

However, after Giscard d'Estaing's defeat at the 1981 presidential election, the PR emancipated towards its founder and a new generation of politicians, led by Fraçois Léotard took the lead. This group called la bande à Léo ("the Léo(tard)'s band"), advocated a connection with the Neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) and covertly supported Jacques Chirac's candidacy at the 1988, against the official UDF candidate Raymond Barre. During the 1995 presidential campaign, the PR divided again between the two main right-wing candidates: François Léotard and Gérard Longuet supported Edouard Balladur while Alain Madelin and Jean-Pierre Raffarin supported Jacques Chirac, who won.

Until the split of the UDF confederation in 1998, the Republican Party was its liberal component, advocating economic liberalism. In 1997, it was replaced by Liberal Democracy (Démocratie libérale, DL), led by Alain Madelin.

[edit] Presidents

[edit] Independent Republicans

• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1966-74)
• Michel Poniatowski (1975-77)

[edit] Republican Party

• Jean-Pierre Soisson (1977-88)
• François Léotard (1988-90)
• Gérard Longuet (1990-95)
• François Léotard (1995-97)
• Alain Madelin (1997)

v • d • e Centrist parties in France Popular Republican Movement (1944-1967) Democratic Centre (1966-1976) Centre, Democracy and Progress (1969-1976) Union for French Democracy (1978-1998) composed of Democratic and Social Centre, Republican Party, Social Democratic Party, Democratic Force New UDF (1998-2007) Liberal Democracy (1998-2002) Democratic Movement (2007- ) New Centre (2007- ) Portal:Politics - List of political parties - List of political parties in France - Politics of France