The Reformist Movement (, MR) was a French centrist political alliance created in 1971 by the
Radical Party (PR) led by
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, and the Christian-democratic
Democratic Centre (CD) headed by
Jean Lecanuet.
The first convention of the movement was held on 3 November 1971 in
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the ÃŽle-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. ...
. In addition to the two major components, the Reformist Movement was joined by the
Republican Centre led by
André Morice (that had split from the Radical Party during the
Algerian War
The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...
); as well as two anti-communist breakaway groups from the
Socialist Party, namely
Émile Muller's "Party of Socialist Democracy" and
Max Lejeune's "Democratic-Socialist Movement of France" (that later became the
Social Democratic Party). The tiny parties "Progress and Freedom" of
Jacques Soustelle and "European Liberal Party" of
Jean-Paul David were linked to the movement as well, but not invited to the founding convention at the request of
Pierre Abelin.
The movement proposed to form a third alternative between the rightist "
Presidential Majority" of
Georges Pompidou, dominated by the
Gaullists, on the one hand, and the "
Union of the Left" comprising the Socialist and Communist parties on the other hand. However, the more leftist faction of the Radical Party (the nascent "Movement of the Radical Socialist Left" led by
Robert Fabre, that later became the
Radical Party of the Left) refused the alliance with the Christian Democrats and joined the Union of the Left instead.
The rivalry of the two main parties and its leaders Lecanuet and Servan-Schreiber destabilised the alliance, its components remained largely independent.
In the first round of the
1973 legislative election, it won 12.5 percent of votes, trailing far behind the two major camps. Due to the
majoritarian electoral system, their candidates qualified for the run-off in only a few constituencies. Thanks to withdrawal agreements with the right-wing parties, however, the Reformist Movement succeeded in forming a parliamentary group of 30 members and 4 affiliated, called the "Social Democratic Reformers" (''Réformateurs démocrates sociaux'', RDS).
One year later, the Reformist Movement's components supported the winning candidacy of
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, leader of the conservative-liberal
Independent Republicans, at the
1974 presidential election. The member parties of the MR joined Giscard's centre-right government. In July 1974, the RDS parliamentary group merged with the
Centrist Union group (formerly allied with the Gaullists) to form the "Reformers, Centrists and Social Democrats" (RCDS) group. The Reformist Movement itself became inactive. In 1978, the constituent parties of the former Reformist Movement, together with Giscard d'Estaing's Independent Republicans, formed the centre-right
Union for French Democracy (UDF).
See also
*
:Reformist Movement (France) politicians
References
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Political parties of the French Fifth Republic
Political parties established in 1971
1971 establishments in France
Centrist parties in France