The Popular Republican Union () is a

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 ...

, founded in 2007 by François Asselineau. The ideology of the party is a hard Eurosceptic, and seeks the withdrawal of

from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

History

Foundation

After leaving the UMP (2006) and the ' (RIF) where Asselineau was a member of the steering committee for 3 months, in 2007, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Rome Treaty, he created the Popular Republican Union (UPR).

2012 presidential election

Asselineau confirmed his candidacy for the

2012 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 22 April 2012 (or 21 April in some overseas departments and territories), with a second round Two-round system, run-off held on 6 May (or 5 May for those same territ ...

in December 2011 during the national congress of the party.Houchard, Béatrice
"Asselineau candidat à la présidentielle"
''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...

'', 3 December 2011. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 Asselineau was not among the ten candidates officially endorsed by the Constitutional Council as he could muster only 17 signatures from elected officials out of the necessary 500

2012 legislative elections

Asselineau and Régis Chamagne ran for the legislative election in the Lot-et-Garonne's 3rd constituency UPR failed to reach the second round, receiving less than one half of one percent of the vote."Election législative partielle : les résultats définitifs"
, ''

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...

'', 23 June 2013. Retrieved on 1 October 2013

2014 European Parliament election

The party participated in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

. However, a limited budget restricted active campaign mailings to only thirty ''departments''. UPR scored 0.41% of votes cast for France and Asselineau scored 0.56% of votes cast in the Île-de-France constituency.

2015 departmental elections

UPR ran in the 2015 departmental elections with 14 lists out of the 2,054

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

. They intended to inform electors about UPR's policy program and frame the domestic situation as the consequence of national and international circumstances. They were hoping to score honorably.

2015 regional elections

In the regional elections of 2015, the UPR ran just under 2,000 candidates in the 12 new continental metropolitan areas and in an overseas region, Reunion Island, which Slate called an "amazing performance for this political formation without elected, nor public funding." François Asselineau was the leader in Île-de-France. The UPR proposes "the organization of referendums on major regional issues, such as the Olympic Games in Île-de-France or Notre-Dame-des-Landes in the Pays-de-la-Loire," referendums of popular initiative at the regional level," the renovation of high schools and the improvement of public transport. On the national level, the UPR collected 0.87% of the votes cast (189,330 votes). In the Ile-de-France region, the list led by François Asselineau received 0.94% of the votes cast (29,755 votes). The UPR asked voters to abstain on the second round of the election.

2017 presidential election

Asselineau declared that he would seek to run in the

2017 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he wo ...

, and managed to secure the 500 necessary sponsorships required to be listed on the first-round ballot. He got 332,547 votes (0.92%), coming in 9th place.

Ideology

UPR runs on an anti-EU platform stating that all French policy decisions are made by an "unelected oligarchy, not French," leading to the political disaffection of the French public, and that the continued rule of the EU over European affairs will lead to a "global apartheid".Dupont, Isabelle
"Un petit candidat contre la grande Europe"
'' Nord éclair'', February 29, 2012. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 UPR promotes withdrawal from the

and the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

by invoking TEU Article 50De Boissieu, Laurent
"Ces "petits" candidats qui veulent se faire entendre"
'' La croix'', March 15, 2012. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 as a first step to get France out of its current crisis by establishing full domestic control capital, goods and person flow regulation. On the basis of military sovereignty, UPR also wants France to withdraw from

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

.Schrepf, Jerôme
"Villeneuve-sur-lot. L'UPR entre conquête et résistance"
''LaDépêche.fr'', May 24, 2013. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 UPR also favors

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of entities such as

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

, La Poste, Gaz de France,Moulinier, Ève. "François Asselineau, le candidat qui dit non à l'UE", ''

Le Dauphiné Libéré ''Le Dauphiné libéré'' is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is published in Grenoble, France. History and profile Founded in 1945, it takes the name from the former province of D ...

'' page 4, 12 February 2012. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 highways, water management and troubled banks.

Policy

* Constitutional reforms would only be allowed by referendum * Reintroduction of the articles of the Constitution regarding "Conspiracy against the state" and "Treachery of the President", which had been removed in 1993 and 2007 respectively * The instauration of popular initiative referendums like in Switzerland * When the protest votes win an election, the election will be reorganised excluding the previous candidates * To stop forced regroupments of communes * To withdraw France from the EU,

and

* To improve relationships with Russia, China, Arab states and Latin American states * To be a non-aligned country * To prohibit electronic voting * To establish a

Constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

like the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

in Germany * To establish a quorum of 60% of parliament attendance * To make media's fund public * To protect whistleblowers such as

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

and

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

* To nationalise water, electricity, railways, highways, the communication company Orange, banks receiving public aid and the post * To ban

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

inside the parliament * To make

think tanks A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-gov ...

' fund public * To raise the minimum wage to 1300 euros per month from 1153 euros per month * To establish a minimum retirement benefit of 950 euros per month * To ban

genetically modified crops Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of '' Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...

Relationship with the media and Internet activism

In February 2012, François Asselineau and his party, UPR, claimed they were "barred from the major media" ("''barrés des grands médias''") and "banned from going on the air" ("''interdits d'antenne''") as "

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

ideas are upsetting" ("''

eur The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...

discours dérange''"). In 2014, UPR described itself as being "the most censored party in France".Yann Thompson
Européennes: la galère des petits candidats

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

, 21 May 2014 On 23 April 2014, François Asselineau's party sent a registered letter to

Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel The (, ), abbreviated CSA, was a French institution created in 1989 whose role was to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television. The creation of the (High Authority for Audiovisual Communication) was a measure ...

(Audiovisual Superior Council) to demand "urgent action regarding the mainstream broadcasting media to have them accept UPR at last in their broadcasts". The "news blackout" that Asselineau allegedly had to deal with was criticized again after the 2014 European elections, as his party obtained slightly more votes than Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (0.41% ''vs'' 0.39%) without further attracting attention from the mainstream media. In March 2012, Asselineau complained about the "censorship" he faced on

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

from which his article had been deleted several times for lack of renown. In February 2013, UPR complained about what it called "the ill treatment of François Asselineau and UPR on Wikipedia", with an extended report on the subject established by the "''Groupe Wiki de l'UPR – Cybermilitantisme''" (the "UPR Wiki Group- Internet activism"). Asselineau and his team are very active on the Internet:Législative partielle: la galaxie des micro-partis
''Sud-Ouest'', 11 June 2013. UPR claim to have developed "solely on the Internet" ("''exclusivement en ligne''") and bank above all on this activism to try to become notable. Rudy Reichstadt characterizes UPR as "a real phenomenon on the Internet", noting that it is "difficult to miss it when one is interested in the conspiracist circles" ("''difficile de passer à côté lorsqu'on s'intéresse à la mouvance complotiste''"). In 2012, UPR created the position of "national manager for

Internet activism Internet activism involves the use of electronic-communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen social movement , movements, the deliv ...

" ("''responsable national au cybermilitantisme''"), whose responsibility is to develop and coordinate the various people conducting such activism ("''actions cybermilitantes''"). However, there has been some backlash to this activism. mentions the harassment that "every journalist has had to deal with, one day or another, at the hands of some UPR activists".

Laurent Ruquier Laurent Hugues Emmanuel Ruquier (; born 24 February 1963) is a French television presenter, radio host and comedian. He is also a lyricist, writer, columnist and impresario; he has been co-owner and general manager of Théâtre Antoine-Simone B ...

likewise noted that he invited François Asselineau to ''

On n'est pas couché ''On n'est pas couché'' was a French talk show broadcast on France 2 on Saturdays at 11 p.m. and hosted by Laurent Ruquier. It was produced by Ruquier and Catherine Barma. It first aired on 16 September 2006; after fourteen seasons, it ended on ...

'' because of incessant Twitter pressure., at 2 mn 10" (accessed on October 4th, 2014). After the broadcast of this program, an article on the collaborative website of ''

L'Obs (), previously known as (2014–2024), (1964–2014), (1954–1964), (1953–1954), and (1950–1953), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, ' is one of the three most prominent French news magazines a ...

'' (Le Plus) expressed doubts about the granting of speaking time to "this kind of conspiracist",. while ''Causeur'' suggested that Laurent Ruquier had in fact invited Asselineau in order to ridicule his anti-European ideas.On ne touche pas à l’Europe chez Ruquier…
''Causeur'', September 22d, 2014 On 28 October 2018, the CSA considered that France 5 has failed to comply with its obligation of rigour by presenting the UPR as an extreme right-wing party.France 5 épinglée par le CSA pour avoir présenté l’UPR comme un parti d’extrême droite
''Le Parisien'', October 30th, 2018

Membership

UPR claim to be a growing party despite what they deem to be "a blacklisting from the national media". The party has thus developed exclusively online strategies; Asselineau's conferences, for instance, have gathered more than two million views. UPR states theirs is the most visited French political party website as evidenced by their

Alexa rank Alexa Internet, Inc. was a web traffic analysis company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded as an independent company by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat in 1996. Alexa provided web traffic data, global rankings, and other info ...

.Lemonnier, Jérôme. , ''Essonne Info'', 22 May 2014. Retrieved on 24 June 2014. In 2013, the university researcher, Jean-Yves Camus expressed doubt about the veracity of their reported membership figures. As of 15 December 2016, UPR reported 14,000 members, with an average growth of 26 members per day. The Republican Popular Union (UPR) is the only French party to display the number of its members in real time on its website.Le nombre d’adhérent de l’UPR en Maine-et-Loire double en 3 mois
''my-angers.info'', 11 April 2017.

Electoral results

References

External links

Official website
{{in lang, fr Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Eurosceptic parties in France 2007 establishments in France Political parties established in 2007 French nationalist parties Opposition to NATO