Democratic Centre (french: Centre Démocrate, CD) was a

Christian-democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

and

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

political party in France. The party existed from 1966 until 1976, when it merged with Centre, Democracy and Progress (CDP) to form the

Centre of Social Democrats The Centre of Social Democrats (''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', CDS; also translated as ''Democratic and Social Centre'') was a Christian-democratic and centrist political party in France. It existed from 1976 to 1995 and was based directly a ...

(CDS). The party's long-time leader was Jean Lecanuet.

History

Democratic Centre was founded on 2 February 1966 by Jean Lecanuet after his 1965 presidential campaign. It came from the merger of the Christian-democratic and centrist

Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement (french: Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) was a Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic. Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Sc ...

(MRP) and the liberal and conservative

National Center of Independents and Peasants The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (''Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans'', CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (the heir of the ...

(CNIP). Its goal was to incarnate a third way between the left-wing opposition (which was

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

and anticlerical) and the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...

coalition (accused of being

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

, nationalist and authoritarian). Before the 1967 legislative election, some Christian Democrats left the party to join the Gaullist movement Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic. One year later, the CNIP left the Democratic Centre. In 1969, the party called for a "no" vote at the

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

about regionalization and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

reform which caused the resignation of De Gaulle. At the ensuing 1969 presidential election Democratic Centre supported the candidacy of Alain Poher, chairman of the Senate. Poher reached the second round but was defeated by

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

, a former Gaullist

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. Later in 1969 some centrists joined the presidential majority and the cabinet of

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde '' ...

, a reforming Gaullist, and founded the Centre, Democracy and Progress (CDP) as a majority of members split from the Democratic Centre. At the beginning of the 1970s there were therefore two centrist parties: the CDP, a component of the presidential majority, and the Democratic Centre, which remained in opposition. The Democratic Centre allied with the centrist Radical Party of

Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS (13 February 19247 November 2006), was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded ''L'Express'' in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radica ...

to form the

Reform Movement A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary m ...

in 1972, Nevertheless, due to the ballot system in the legislative election (the

Two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

), it concluded electoral agreements with the presidential majority in a number of constituencies in the 1973 legislative election. Finally, the Democratic Centre supported the winning presidential candidacy of

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

at the 1974 presidential election and was integrated into the presidential majority. On 23 May 1976, the Democratic Centre rejoined with the CDP to form the

(CDS). The CDS joined on 1 February 1978 the newly founded

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to ...

(UDF) of Giscard d'Estaing.

Election results

Presidential

References

1966 establishments in France 1976 disestablishments in France Defunct political parties in France Political parties established in 1966 Political parties disestablished in 1976 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Centrist parties in France Christian democratic parties in Europe {{France-party-stub