The Rurality Movement (, LMR), formerly Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions (french: Chasse, pêche, nature et traditions; ; CPNT, ) is an agrarianist political party in France that aims to defend the traditional values of rural France. Its leader is Eddie Puyjalon. The party states it is neither right nor left but represents rural people on the whole in their diversity. The party was a member of the presidential majority of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

History

Formed in 1985, it contested both the European elections of

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

without success. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, it obtained six seats, led by

Jean Saint-Josse Jean Saint-Josse (born 22 March 1944 in Coarraze, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is a French politician and former member of the Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic (french: Rassemblement pour la République ; RPR ), was a Gaullism# ...

who was at the top of the list. It lost all representation at the following election to the European Parliament in 2004, when it obtained less than the minimum 3% of votes that allow a party to be reimbursed for campaign expenses. Consequently, it faced a deficit of 300,000 euros. At one stage, it had 32 regional councillors, but lost all of them in that same year. After these problems, most members of the CPNT have joined the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...

(UMP) or the Movement for France, but the party is still in existence, and nominated

Frédéric Nihous Frédéric Nihous (born 15 August 1967) is a French politician from the Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Traditions (CPNT) party. He was a candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, but was eliminated in the first round of balloting. He wa ...

, a hunter from Northern France, as a candidate in the Presidential election of 2007. Nihous won 1.15% of votes only, much lower than

in 2002. In the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

, the party ran as the junior partner of the Movement for France under the etiquette of the

Libertas Libertas ( Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the Late Republic, featured on coins supporting the populares faction, and later those of the assassins of ...

political movement led by Irish businessman

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...

. They won 4.8% of the vote, but only one seat, that of MPF leader

Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Main Website Retrieved 4 March 2009. He is the founder of the Puy du Fou them ...

. In August 2009, CPNT President Frédéric Nihous announced interest in joining the

Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority The Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority (french: Comité de liaison de la majorité présidentielle, also called the Committee of the Presidential Majority or Committee of the Majority) was a structure initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy to ...

, which co-ordinates the parties which support the policies of President

. After the standing down of Frédéric Nihous in March 2016, Eddie Puyjalon assumed the leadership of the party.

Presidents

*André Goustat (1989–1998) *

(1998–2008) *

(2008–2016) * Eddie Puyjalon (2016– )

Popular support and electoral record

CPNT is strong in certain rural areas of France with an important community of

hunters Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

. It is strong in the

Somme River The Somme ( , , ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geolog ...

estuary to the west of

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

, in the

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,6 ...

department. In the 1999 European election, CPNT won 25% of the vote in the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

, 15.4% in the Manche, 15.2% in the

Landes ''Landes'', or ''Lanas'' in Gascon, means moorland or heath. ''Landes'' and ''Lanas'' come from the Latin ''plānus'' meaning “‘flat, even, level, plain’”. They are therefore cognate with the English plain (and plane), the Spanish word ''l ...

department and 11.9% in Gironde. In stark contrast, the party barely won 1% of the vote that year in the Alsatian department of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lo ...

and did poorly in the east of France, much more industrialized and much less agrarian. CPNT has three general councillors: one in the Somme, one in Gironde and one in the Hérault department.

Presidential

Legislative

European Parliament

References

External links

CPNT web site - in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rurality Movement Right-wing parties in France Libertas.eu Agrarian parties Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Political parties established in 1989 Recreational political parties Eurosceptic parties in France 1989 establishments in France Hunting in France