X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Union for French Democracy


De Gaulle family

##### Charles de Gaulle (1948 - ), lawyer, elected official who switched from the UDF to the National Front.

Party of New Forces

They would go on to have members elected to town councils in 1983 as part of the Rally for the Republic (RPR)-Union for French Democracy (UDF) list.

Union for French Democracy

During the 1978 legislative electoral campaign, in his Verdun-sur-le-Doubs speech, President Giscard d'Estaing noted that the political leanings of the French people were divided among four groups: the Communists (PCF), the Socialists (PS), the Neo-Gaullists (RPR) and his own followers.

There developed a split among UDF elected officials, between those such as Gilles de Robien and Pierre-Christophe Baguet, who favored closer ties with the UMP, and those such as François Bayrou who advocate independent centrist policies, while others such as Jean Dionis du Séjour tried steering for a middle course.

According to the historian René Rémond, the UDF descended from the Orleanist tradition of the right, whereas the RPR was a reincarnation of the Bonapartist tradition, which promotes national independence by virtue of a strong state.


Azouz Begag

On 16 March 2007, Begag officially announced his support for the UDF candidate François Bayrou.

Jean-Pierre Soisson

However, his alliance with the National Front between 1998 and 2004 in order to keep his seat in the Regional Council of Bourgogne tarred his career, and owed him to be excluded from the Union for French Democracy (UDF), along with Charles Baur, Jacques Blanc, Charles Millon and Bernard Harang.

Olivier Henno

A member of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), he was elected mayor of Saint-André-lez-Lille in 2001 with almost 52% of the vote, as well as general councillor and a member of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole.

Philippe Douste-Blazy

Member of the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS), the Christian Democrat component of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), he entered politics in March 1989, being elected mayor of Lourdes and then Member of the European Parliament in June of the same year.

Prime Minister of France

For example, right after the legislative election of 1986, President François Mitterrand appointed Jacques Chirac as prime minister, Chirac was a member of the RPR and a political opponent of Mitterrand's, and despite the fact the Mitterrand's own Socialist Party was still the largest party in the Assembly, the RPR had an ally in the UDF, which gave them a majority.

Rhône-Alpes regional election, 2004

Jean-Jack Queyranne (PS) was elected President, defeating the incumbent Anne-Marie Comparini (UDF).


see also