Union of Democrats for the Republic
The Union for the Defence of the Republic (French: Union pour la défense de la République), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic (French: Union des Démocrates pour la République), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist[8][9] political party of France that existed from 1968 to 1976.
Union of Democrats for the Republic Union des Démocrates pour la République | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Charles de Gaulle Georges Pompidou Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chirac |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Dissolved | 1976 |
| Preceded by | Union for the New Republic |
| Succeeded by | Rally for the Republic |
| Headquarters | 123 rue de Lille, Paris 7th |
| Newspaper | La Lettre de la nation |
| Ideology | Gaullism Paternalistic conservatism[1] Liberal conservatism[2] Pro-Europeanism[3][4] (soft)[5] |
| Political position | Right-wing[6][7] |
| European Parliament group | European Democratic Union (1967–73) European Progressive Democrats (1973–76) |
| Colors | Orange (official) Blue (costumary) |
The UDR was the successor to Charles de Gaulle's earlier party, the Rally of the French People, and was organised in 1958, along with the founding of the Fifth Republic as the Union for the New Republic (UNR), and in 1962 merged with the Democratic Union of Labour, a left-Gaullist group. In 1967 it was joined by some Christian Democrats to form the Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic, later dropping the 'Fifth'. After the May 1968 crisis, it formed a right-wing coalition named Union for the Defense of the Republic (UDR); it was subsequently renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic, retaining the abbreviation UDR, in October 1968.
Under de Gaulle's successor Georges Pompidou it promoted the Gaullist movement. It dissolved in 1976, and its successor was the Rally for the Republic (RPR) founded by Jacques Chirac.[10][11]
Secretaries-general
- 1968–71: Robert Poujade
- 1971–72: René Tomasini
- 1972–73: Alain Peyrefitte
- 1973–74: Alexandre Sanguinetti
- 1974–75: Jacques Chirac
- 1975–76: André Bord
- 1976: Yves Guéna
Electoral history
Presidential elections
| Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | ||
| 1969 | Georges Pompidou | 10,051,783 | 44.5 | Ballotage | 11,064,371 | 58.2 | Won |
| 1974 | Jacques Chaban-Delmas | 3,857,728 | 15.1 | Lost | N/A | ||
Legislative elections
| Election year | 1st round | 2nd round | Seats | +/− | Rank (seats) |
Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||
| 1967 | 8,448,082 | 37.7 | 7,972,908 | 42.6 | 293 / 487 |
 |
1st | Presidential majority |
| 1968 | 9,667,532 | 43.6 | 6,762,170 | 46.4 | 396 / 487 |
 |
1st | Presidential majority |
| 1973 | 8,242,661 | 34.6 | 10,701,135 | 45.6 | 314 / 488 |
|
1st | Presidential majority |
See also
References
- Lind, Michael (2013). Simon and Schuster (ed.). Up from Conservatism. p. 47.
- Fysh, Peter (1997). A&C Black (ed.). Chapter 3: Gaullism and liberalism. Political Ideologies in Contemporary France.
- Tchoubarian, Alexander (2014). Routledge (ed.). The European Idea in History in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A View From Moscow. p. 166.
- Rusi, Alpo M. (1991). Springer (ed.). After the Cold War: Europe’s New Political Architecture. Springer. p. 34.
- Gaffney, John (2002). Routledge (ed.). Political Parties and the European Union. p. 87.
- Goodliffe, Gabriel (2012), The Resugence of the Radical Right in France: From Boulangisme to the Front National, Cambridge University Press, p. 250
- Blondel, Jean (1974), Contemporary France: Politics, Society and Institutions, Methuen & Co, pp. 24–25
- Alexandra Hughes; Alex Hughes; Keith A Reader; Keith Reader (11 March 2002). Encyclopaedia of Contemporary French Culture. Routledge. p. 367. ISBN 978-1-134-78865-1.
- D. L. Hanley; Miss A P Kerr; N. H. Waites (17 August 2005). Contemporary France: Politics and Society Since 1945. Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-134-97423-8.
- Frank L. Wilson, "Gaullism without de Gaulle," Western Political Quarterly (1973) 26#3 pp. 485-506 in JSTOR
- Senate Groups since 1959
Further reading
- Berstein, Serge & Jean-Pierre Rioux (2000). The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Cambridge UP.S, major scholarly history of France
- Hibbs, Douglas A., and Nicholas Vasilatos. "Economics and Politics in France: Economic Performance and Mass Political Support for Presidents Pompidou and Giscard d'Estaing." European Journal of Political Research (1981) 9#2 pp: 133-145. online
- Wilson, Frank L. "Gaullism without de Gaulle," Western Political Quarterly (1973) 26#3 pp. 485–506 in JSTOR