Union of Democrats for the Republic

The Union for the Defence of the Republic (French: Union pour la défense de la République), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic (French: Union des démocrates pour la République), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist political party of France that existed from 1967 to 1976.

The UDR was the successor to Charles de Gaulle's earlier party, the Rally of the French People, and was organised in 1958, along with the founding of the Fifth Republic as the Union for the New Republic (UNR), and in 1962 merged with the Democratic Union of Labour, a left-wing Gaullist group. In 1967 it was joined by some Christian Democrats to form the Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic, later dropping the 'Fifth'. After the May 1968 crisis, it formed a right-wing coalition named Union for the Defense of the Republic (UDR); it was subsequently renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic, retaining the abbreviation UDR, in October 1968.

Under de Gaulle's successor Georges Pompidou it promoted the Gaullist movement. It dissolved in 1976, and its successor was the Rally for the Republic (RPR) founded by Jacques Chirac.

Secretaries-general

• 1968–71: Robert Poujade
• 1971–72: René Tomasini
• 1972–73: Alain Peyrefitte
• 1973–74: Alexandre Sanguinetti
• 1974–75: Jacques Chirac
• 1975–76: André Bord
• 1976: Yves Guéna

Election results

Presidential

National Assembly

See also

• Gaullist Party

References

Further reading

• Berstein, Serge & Jean-Pierre Rioux (2000). The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Cambridge UP. ISBN 9780521580618.S, major scholarly history of France
• Hibbs, Douglas A., and Nicholas Vasilatos. "Economics and Politics in France: Economic Performance and Mass Political Support for Presidents Pompidou and Giscard d'Estaing." European Journal of Political Research (1981) 9#2 pp: 133-145. online
• Wilson, Frank L. "Gaullism without de Gaulle," Western Political Quarterly (1973) 26#3 pp. 485–506 in JSTOR