The Democratic Force (, , FD) was a

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that existed from 1995 to 1998. It was led by

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...

, who went on to become leader of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...

(UDF) upon the party's disestablishment.

History

The party was founded in 1995 by the merger of the centrist components of the

: the Christian-democratic

Centre of Social Democrats The Centre of Social Democrats (French: ''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', , CDS; also translated as the "Democratic and Social Centre") was a Christian-democratic and centrist political party in France. It existed from 1976 to 1995 and was base ...

(CDS) and the social-liberal

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD). The party disappeared in 1998, when the UDF confederation became a unified political party. The former leader (president) of the Democratic Force,

, became leader of the new party, as well as more recently leader of the UDF's successor party, the

Democratic Movement Democratic Movement may refer to: *Brazilian Democratic Movement *Democratic Movement (France) *Democratic Movement (Israel) *Democratic Movement (Italy) *Democratic Italian Movement *Democratic Movement (San Marino) *Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzst ...

(MoDem). However, a large chunk of the FD's former members later sided with the more right-wing

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) and its successor The Republicans (LR), as well as the

Democratic European Force The Democratic European Force (''Force européenne démocrate'', FED) is a centre-right political party in France founded in July 2012 by Jean-Christophe Lagarde and other dissidents of the New Centre who opposed Hervé Morin's leadership. It ...

(FED), formed by a

New Centre The Centrists (, , ), known as The Centrists – New Centre ( , ) since 2018, formerly known as New Centre (, ) and European Social Liberal Party ( , ), is a centre-right political party in France formed by the members of the Union for French Dem ...

splinter group led by

Jean-Christophe Lagarde Jean-Christophe Lagarde (; born 24 October 1967) is a French politician serving as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) since 2014. He succeeded Jean-Louis Borloo after a short interim by Yves Jégo. Lagarde has been the mem ...

and later aligned with the

Union of Democrats and Independents The Union of Democrats and Independents (, , UDI) is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in France, political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the UDI and Independents group, e ...

(UDI), of which Lagarde served as leader.

Philippe Douste-Blazy Philippe Douste-Blazy (; born 1 January 1953) is a French United Nations official and former centre-right politician. Over the course of his career, he served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Adviser on Innovative Financi ...

, the former CDS secretary-general, remained in office as FD secretary-general, assisted by

Claude Goasguen Claude Goasguen (12 March 1945 – 28 May 2020) was a French politician who served as a member of the National Assembly for Paris from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1997 until his death in 2020. A member of The Republicans, he also briefly was Min ...

(from 1996) and

André Santini André Santini (; born 20 October 1940) is a French politician and current mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine. A former member of the UDF, he did not support François Bayrou, the candidate of his party for the first round of the 2 ...

Michel Mercier Michel Mercier (born 7 March 1947) is a French politician and who served as Minister of Justice from 2010 until 2012. After studying law and graduating from Jean Moulin University Law school and the Lyon IEP, he taught finance and local gove ...

was treasurer."Cabinet de Michel Mercier, Garde des sceaux, ministre de la Justice et des Libertés (2003-2012)"
''francearchives.gouv.fr'' .

References

{{French centrist parties Political parties of the French Fifth Republic 1995 establishments in France Political parties established in 1995 1998 disestablishments in France Political parties disestablished in 1998 Union for French Democracy