The Union of Democrats and Independents (french: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

to centre-right political party in France and former

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the parliamentary group of the same name in the National Assembly. The party was composed of separate political parties who retained their independence, but always in coalition with the biggest right wing party The Republicans. As most of them have been expelled or have left, the Democratic European Force is the last founding party to participate in the UDI. The party's current president is Jean-Christophe Lagarde, who was elected at the congress of the party on 15 November 2014, after the resignation of

Jean-Louis Borloo Jean-Louis Marie Borloo (; born 7 April 1951) is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of ...

on 6 April 2014 for health reasons.

History

On 9 October 2012, the leaderships of the parties making up the UDI parliamentary group announced the creation of a new political party and set up a temporary office in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. On 21 October, a founding assembly was convened at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris, which marked the official foundation of the movement. Following the congress of 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 List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...

(UMP) on 18 November 2012 and the ensuing tensions between the two rival candidates for the party's presidency, a number of leading figures of the UMP announced that they were joining the UDI, including former cabinet minister and deputy Pierre Méhaignerie and Mayenne deputy Yannick Favennec. However, during a legislative

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 9 and 16 December 2012 in the Val-de-Marne's 1st constituency, UDI incumbent

Henri Plagnol Henri Plagnol (born February 11, 1961 in Paris) is a French politician who has served on the National Assembly. He represented the Val-de-Marne department, from 1997 to 2002, and again from 2007 to 2012. Throughout his legislature tenure, Plagn ...

- a former member of the UMP who had joined the UDI in June - was defeated by a right-wing dissident, Sylvain Berrios. On 9 June 2013, the UDI gained a deputy ( Meyer Habib) at the by-election in the

Eighth constituency for French residents overseas The Eighth constituency for French residents overseas (''huitième circonscription des Français établis hors de France'') is one of Constituencies for French residents overseas, eleven constituencies each electing one representative of French pe ...

, but this contribution was cancelled out by Gilles Bourdouleix's resignation from UDI after the controversy for saying

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

had not killed enough

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

. The UDI became a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party on 2 December 2016. Although the UDI leadership supported

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

in the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of La République En Marche!, En Ma ...

, several members of the party were supporting En Marche! candidate Emmanuel Macron.

Former members

The

National Centre of Independents and Peasants The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (''Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans'', CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (the heir of the ...

was expelled after its leader and only deputy Gilles Bourdouleix's resigned for saying

had not killed enough

.Gilles Bourdouleix resigned to UDI
/ref> The Centrist Alliance was excluded on 25 March 2017 as a result of its support for Emmanuel Macron; Territories in Movement left after the results of the 2015 regional elections; and the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) was excluded from the UDI in December 2013. The Radical Party left after its reunification with the

Radical Party of the Left The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Soc ...

to form the

Radical Movement The Radical Movement (french: Mouvement radical, MR), officially the Radical, Social and Liberal Movement (french: link=no, Mouvement radical, social et libéral), was a Social liberalism, social-liberal list of political parties in France, politi ...

on 10 December 2017 (and therefore the

Modern Left The Modern Left (french: La Gauche moderne, LGM), is a centrist political party in France founded in 2007. The party was founded following the nomination of the former Socialist Party (PS) Senator and Mayor of Mulhouse, Jean-Marie Bockel to the ...

as well); on 16 December,

The Centrists The Centrists (french: Les Centristes, LC), formerly known as New Centre (''Nouveau Centre'', NC) and European Social Liberal Party (''Parti Social Libéral Européen'', PSLE), is a centre-right political party in France formed by the members of ...

followed suit in announcing its intention to quit the UDI. The Democratic European Force is the last founding party to remain a component of the UDI.

Election results

Legislative elections

European elections

The 2014 elections involved an alliance with the forces of the Democratic Movement (MoDem); this joint list, The Alternative (''L'Alternative''), saw 3 UDI MEPs out of 7 elected from the list. The change in seats shown is since the 2009 election for the MoDem list.

References

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, France, Politics, Liberalism, European Union 2012 establishments in France Political parties established in 2012 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Liberal parties in France Centrist parties in France Christian democratic parties in Europe Pro-European political parties in France