The Rally (french: Le Rassemblement; until 2004 Rally for Caledonia in the Republic, french: Rassemblement pour une Calédonie dans la République; from 2004 to 2014 Rally–UMP) is a conservative
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
, strongly supportive of the
French status of the region; it is affiliated with the French party
Les Republicains.
History
In 1977, which saw the start of an outright nationalist movement on the left, anti-nationalist (loyalist)
Caldoche
Caldoche is the name given to European inhabitants of the France, French overseas collectivity of New Caledonia, mostly native-born European origin French. The formal name to refer to this particular population is ', short for the very formal ' ...
leader
Jacques Lafleur
Jacques Lafleur (20 November 1932 – 4 December 2010) was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France.
Lafleur was a leader of one of the two anti-independence parties in New Caledonia, the RPCR (Rally for Caledonia in the Repub ...
founded the Rally for Caledonia (RPC) which became the Rally for Caledonia in the Republic (RPCR) in 1978 following its affiliation with the
Rally for the Republic
The Rally for the Republic (french: Rassemblement pour la République ; RPR ), was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 a ...
(RPR) in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The RPCR was originally a big tent for a large majority of loyalists, whether they were liberals or close supporters of
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
(such as Lafleur). However, the first cracks in the RPCR appeared in 1995, when Lafleur broke his historical friendship with Chirac to endorse
Balladur in the
1995 presidential election in France.
Didier Leroux
__NOTOC__
Didier is a French masculine given name and surname common throughout the Romance languages. It comes from the Ancient Roman names Didius and Desiderius. During the 5th century AD, with the Christianisation of ancient pagan names, it h ...
, the strongman of the local managerial trade union and a close supporter of Jacques Chirac, left the RPCR to found a party named A New Caledonia for All. However, the RPCR remained, by far, the largest loyalist party in the 1994 and 1999 elections. It became the Rassemblement-UMP after the creation of the
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 2002, but kept the RPCR acronym.
However, the RPCR started massively cracking ahead of the
2004 elections. In 2004, a group of RPCR dissidents who opposed Lafleur's authoritarian leadership formed the
Future Together
Future Together (french: l'Avenir Ensemble, ) was a center-right political party in New Caledonia supporting the maintenance of political and administrative ties with France.
The name ''l'Avenir Ensemble'' reflects the party's desire to unite N ...
party. The new party included
Marie-Noëlle Thémereau
Marie-Noëlle Thémereau (born 1950) is a New Caledonian politician who served as the former president of the government of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean about 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. She has b ...
, who had left the RPCR in 2001 and supported
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.
Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...
in the
2002 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 21 April 2002, with a runoff election between the top two candidates, incumbent Jacques Chirac of the Rally for the Republic and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front, on 5 May. This presidential ...
;
Harold Martin, Lafleur's heir apparent but excluded in 2003 for running a dissident list in the
2001 local elections; and
Philippe Gomès
Philippe Gomès (born 27 October 1958) is a New Caledonian politician and, from 5 June 2009 to 11 March 2011, President of the Government of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. He served as a member of the Natio ...
, a friend of Martin.
In the
2004 election, the RPCR received its worst result to date, obtaining 24.43% and only 16 Congressmen. Future Together won 22.69% and 16 seats, but it won more votes than the RPCR in the loyalist stronghold of
South Province. Gomès became Provincial President, and
Harold Martin became
President of the Government of New Caledonia
This article lists the presidents of the Government of New Caledonia since 1999, after the Nouméa Accord was signed in 1998. The President is often from the largest party in the Congress of New Caledonia, though the government itself is made up ...
.
In 2005, Lafleur announced his intentions to step down in favour of
Pierre Frogier
Pierre Frogier (born 16 November 1950, Nouméa, New Caledonia) is a French politician, who was President of the Government of New Caledonia from 2001 to 2004. He has been French senator for New Caledonia since 2011, and was member of the Nati ...
, who represented
New Caledonia's 2nd constituency
The 2nd constituency of New Caledonia is a French legislative constituency in New Caledonia.
The second constituency was created in a redistricting in 1978. Between 1978 and a new redistricting in 1986, the second constituency represented the ethn ...
and was a close supporter of the President of the UMP in France, soon-to-be-President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
. Frogier was seen as Lafleur's chosen successor. However, he reneged on this decision and ran against Frogier for the RPCR leadership at the party congress. Frogier defeated Lafleur by a large margin, and Lafleur left the RPCR to form the
Rally for Caledonia
The Rally for Caledonia (french: link=no, Rassemblement pour la Calédonie, RPC) was a Gaullist political party in New Caledonia, strongly supportive of the French status of the region; it is close to the French Union for a Popular Movement.
H ...
(RPC).
Despite its decline, the RPCR held both of New Caledonia's seats in the
French National Assembly
The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...
in the
2007 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2007.
* Electoral calendar 2007
* Elections in 2007
* 2007 United Nations Security Council election
Africa
* 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
* 2007 Algerian legislative el ...
. In the
1st constituency, representing the capital city of
Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, a ...
,
Gaël Yanno
Gaël Yanno (born 2 July 1961 in Nouméa, New Caledonia) is a French politician, and a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He served as President of the Congress of New Caledonia from 2014 to 2015, and again from July 2018 to May 2019.
...
defeated a Kanak nationalist but most notably the incumbent, Jacques Lafleur, who had won the seat since 1986.
In the
2009 election, the RPCR obtained a lower result than in 2004, despite the division in
Future Together
Future Together (french: l'Avenir Ensemble, ) was a center-right political party in New Caledonia supporting the maintenance of political and administrative ties with France.
The name ''l'Avenir Ensemble'' reflects the party's desire to unite N ...
. The RPCR obtained only 20.3% and a mere 13 Congressmen. However, the RPCR regained its status as largest party in New Caledonia and achieved first place in the
South Province.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally-Ump
Political parties in New Caledonia
*Main
Christian democratic parties in Oceania
Political parties established in 1977
Anti-nationalist parties
The Republicans (France)