Union of Democrats and Independents

Union of Democrats and Independents Union des Démocrates et Indépendants
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President	Jean-Christophe Lagarde
General Secretary	Brigitte Fouré, Michel Zumkeller
Spokespersons	Chantal Jouanno, Jean-Marie Bockel
Honorary President	Jean-Louis Borloo
Founded	September 18, 2012 (2012-09-18)
Headquarters	22 bis, rue des Volontaires, Paris
Ideology	Centrism Liberalism Christian democracy European federalism
Political position	Centre to Centre-right
European affiliation	European Democratic Party
International affiliation	None
European Parliament group	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Colours	Light blue
National Assembly	30 / 577
Senate	43 / 348
European Parliament	3 / 74
Regional Councils	120 / 1,880
Website
www.parti-udi.fr
Politics of France Political parties Elections

The Union of Democrats and Independents (French: Union des démocrates et indépendants, UDI) is a centrist political party in France founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the parliamentary group of the same name. The party is composed of eight separate political parties who retain their independence. The former UDI's president and leader Jean-Louis Borloo claims to have 50,000 members. The current president is Jean-Christophe Lagarde, elected at the congress of the party on 15 November 2014, after the resignation of Jean-Louis Borloo 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. 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 (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 on December 9 and 16, 2012 in the Val-de-Marne's 1st constituency, UDI incumbent Henri Plagnol - 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, but this contribution was found cancelled with Gilles Bourdouleix's resignation from UDI after the controversy for allegedly saying Adolf Hitler had not killed enough Romani people.

Organization

Composition

The UDI is made up of nine political parties:

• Radical Party (PR; leader: Jean-Louis Borloo; ideology: Liberalism; 6 deputies, 5 senators, 1 MEP) ;
• New Centre (NC; leader: Hervé Morin; ideology: Centrism, Social liberalism; 8 deputies, 8 senators, 1 MEP);
• Centrist Alliance (AC; leader: Jean Arthuis; Ideology: Centrism; 2 deputies, 8 senators);
• Democratic European Force (FED; leader: Jean-Christophe Lagarde; Ideology: Christian democracy; 4 deputies, 4 senators, 1 MEP);
• Modern Left (LGM; leader: Jean-Marie Bockel; ideology: Social liberalism; 1 senator and 2 MEPs);
• Territories in Movement (TeM; leader: Jean-Christophe Fromantin; Ideology: Liberalism; 1 deputy);
• National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP; leader: Gilles Bourdouleix; Ideology: Liberal conservatism; 1 deputy);
• Liberal Democratic Party (PLD; leader: Aurélien Véron; Ideology: Libertarianism; 0 deputy).
• New Democrat Ecology (NED; leader: Éric Delhaye; Ideology: Ecologism; 0 deputy).

Leadership

Temporary structure

Pending the founding congress, a temporary leadership structure ensures the drafting of the party's statutes.

• President: Jean-Louis Borloo (PR)
• General-delegate: Yves Jégo (PR)
• Vice-president (European project): Jean Arthuis (AC)
• Vice-president (Political project): Jean-Christophe Fromantin (TeM)
• Vice-president (Feminization and rejuvenation): Sophie Auconie (NC)
• Vice-president: Chantal Jouanno (ex-UMP)
• Vice-president: Gilles Bourdouleix (CNIP)
• National delegate: Alain Dolium (MoDem)
• President of the national council: Hervé Morin (NC)
• President of the nominations commission: Rama Yade (PR)
• Institutional spokespersons: Maurice Leroy (NC) and Philippe Vigier (NC)
• Secretaries general: Jean-Christophe Lagarde (FED) and Laurent Hénart (PR)
• Deputy secretaries general : Florent Montillot and Hervé Marseille (FED)
• President of the arbitration and control commission: Hervé Maurey (NC)
• General director: Éric Azière (ex-MoDem)

Current leadership

• President : Jean-Christophe Lagarde
  • Vice-president : Yves Jégo
  • Vice-president : Valérie Létard
  • Vice-president : Philippe Folliot
  • Vice-president : Catherine Morin-Desailly
  • Vice-president : Jean-Marie Bockel
  • Vice-president : Sophie Auconie
  • Vice-president : François Sauvadet
  • Vice-president : Louis Giscard d'Estaing
  • Vice-president : Arnaud Richard
  • Vice-president : Bertrand Pancher
  • Vice-president : Yannick Favennec
• National Council president : Laurent Hénart
• General delegate : Franck Reynier
• General secretaries : Brigitte Fouré, Michel Zumkeller
• Spokespersons : Chantal Jouanno, Jean-Marie Bockel, Laurent Degallaix, Daniel Leca

Election results

French Parliament

National Assembly
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
2017	unknown (#?)		0 / 577	–	unknown

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
2014	1,884,565 (#4)	9.94	7 / 74	–	François Bayrou

External links

• Official website