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Union of Democrats and Independents Union des démocrates et indépendants | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | UDI |
| President | Hervé Marseille |
| General Secretary | Brigitte Fouré Michel Zumkeller |
| Spokespersons | Chantal Jouanno Jean-Marie Bockel Laurent Degallaix Daniel Leca |
| Honorary President | Jean-Louis Borloo |
| Founded | 18 September 2012; 13 years ago (2012-09-18) |
| Split from | Union for a Popular Movement |
| Headquarters | 22 bis, Rue des Volontaires,Paris |
| LGBT wing | GayLib(until 2018) |
| Membership(2017) |  20,000[1] |
| Ideology | Liberalism (French) |
| Political position | Centre[2] tocentre-right[3] |
| National affiliation | Union of the Right and Centre (2012–2024) Ensemble (2024–) |
| European affiliation | European Democratic Party (before 2016) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2016–) |
| Colours | Violet Sky blue(customary) |
| National Assembly | 7 / 577 |
| Senate | 36 / 348 |
| European Parliament | 1 / 81 |
| Presidency of Regional Councils | 0 / 17 |
| Presidency of Departmental Councils | 8 / 95 |
| Website | |
| parti-udi.fr | |
TheUnion of Democrats and Independents (French:Union des démocrates et indépendants,pronounced[ynjɔ̃dedemɔkʁateɛ̃depɑ̃dɑ̃],UDI) is aliberal[4]political party inFrance and formerelectoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of theeponymous parliamentary group in theNational Assembly.
The party was composed of separate political parties that retained their legal independence, but were in coalition with the larger right-wing partyThe Republicans (LR, formerly the Union for a Popular Movement). As most of them have been expelled or left, theDemocratic European Force (FED) is the last of the founding parties to remain a participant in the UDI.
The party's current president is SenatorHervé Marseille of the FED, also president of theCentrist Union group in the Senate. He succeededJean-Christophe Lagarde, who was elected at the congress of the party on 15 November 2014, following the resignation ofJean-Louis Borloo on 6 April 2014 for health reasons.[5]
The UDI was part of theEnsemble coalition in the2024 snap legislative election.
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 inParis. On 21 October, a founding assembly was convened at theMaison de la Mutualité in Paris, which marked the official foundation of the movement.[6]
Following the congress of theUnion 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 deputyPierre Méhaignerie andMayenne deputyYannick Favennec. However, during a legislativeby-election on 9 and 16 December 2012 in theVal-de-Marne's 1st constituency, UDI incumbentHenri Plagnol – a former member of the UMP who had joined the UDI in June – was defeated by aright-wing dissident,Sylvain Berrios.[7]
On 9 June 2013, the UDI gained a deputy (Meyer Habib) at the by-election in theEighth constituency for French residents overseas,[8] but this contribution was cancelled out byGilles Bourdouleix's resignation from UDI after the controversy for sayingAdolf Hitler had not killed enoughRomani people.[9]
The UDI became a member of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party on 2 December 2016.[10]
Although the UDI leadership supportedFrançois Fillon in the2017 French presidential election, several members of the party were supportingEn Marche! candidateEmmanuel Macron.[11]
TheNational Centre of Independents and Peasants was expelled after its leader and only deputyGilles Bourdouleix's resigned for sayingAdolf Hitler had not killed enoughRomani people.[12] TheCentrist Alliance was excluded on 25 March 2017 as a result of its support forEmmanuel Macron;Territories in Movement left after the results of the 2015 regional elections; and theLiberal Democratic Party (PLD) was excluded from the UDI in December 2013. TheRadical Party left after its reunification with theRadical Party of the Left to form theRadical Movement on 10 December 2017 (and therefore theModern Left as well); on 16 December,The Centrists followed suit in announcing its intention to quit the UDI. TheDemocratic European Force is the last founding party to remain a component of the UDI.[13]
| Election year | 1st round | 2nd round | Seats | +/− | Rank (seats) | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||
| 2017 | 687,225 | 3.03 | 551,784 | 3.04 | 18 / 577 | 10 | 5th | Opposition |
| 2022 | 198,062 | 0.87 | 64,443 | 0.31 | 3 / 577 | 15 | 16th? | Opposition |
| 2024 | 114,672 | 0.36 | 90,015 | 0.33 | 5 / 577 |  2 | Part ofEnsemble | Government |
The 2014 elections involved an alliance with the forces of theDemocratic Movement (MoDem); this joint list,The Alternative (L'Alternative), saw three UDI MEPs out of seven elected from the list. The change in seats shown is since the 2009 election for the MoDem list.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014[a] | Jean-Louis Borloo | 1,884,565 | 9.94 (#4) | 4 / 74 | New | ALDE |
| 2019 | Jean-Christophe Lagarde | 566,057 | 2.50 (#9) | 0 / 79 | 4 | − |
| 2024[b] | Hervé Marseille | 3,589,114 | 14.56 (#2) | 1 / 81 | 1 | RE |
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