Democratic Centre (France)

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Democratic Centre
Centre Démocrate

Democratic Centre (

Centre, Democracy and Progress (CDP) to form the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS).[3] The party's long-time leader was Jean Lecanuet
.

History

Democratic Centre was founded on 2 February 1966 by

National Center of Independents and Peasants (CNIP).[4] Its goal was to incarnate a third way between the left-wing opposition (which was Marxist and anticlerical) and the Gaullist coalition (accused of being Eurosceptic
, nationalist and authoritarian).

Before the 1967 legislative election, some Christian Democrats left the party to join the Gaullist movement Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic. One year later, the CNIP left the Democratic Centre.

In 1969, the party called for a "no" vote at the

Centre, Democracy and Progress (CDP) as a majority of members split from the Democratic Centre.[4][5]
At the beginning of the 1970s there were therefore two centrist parties: the CDP, a component of the presidential majority, and the Democratic Centre, which remained in opposition.

The Democratic Centre allied with the centrist

Reform Movement in 1972,[4] Nevertheless, due to the ballot system in the legislative election (the Two-round system), it concluded electoral agreements with the presidential majority in a number of constituencies in the 1973 legislative election. Finally, the Democratic Centre supported the winning presidential candidacy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the 1974 presidential election and was integrated into the presidential majority.[5]

On 23 May 1976, the Democratic Centre rejoined with the CDP to form the Centre of Social Democrats (CDS).[5] The CDS joined on 1 February 1978 the newly founded Union for French Democracy (UDF) of Giscard d'Estaing.

Election results

Presidential

Presidency of the French Republic
Election Candidate First round Second round Result
Votes % Votes %
1969 Alain Poher 5,268,613 23.31% 7,943,118 41.79% Lost

References