Convention for a Progressive Alternative

The Convention for a Progressive Alternative (french: Convention pour une alternative progressiste, CAP) was a French left-wing political party founded in 1994. It was founded by reformist Communists (Charles Fiterman,

Jean-Pierre Brard Jean-Pierre Brard, (born 7 February 1948), is a French politician. Initially a teacher, he entered politics and was elected was deputy mayor of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, a post he held until 1984 when he was elected mayor of the same city. ...

), Socialists, Trotskyists and others. The party supported Green candidate

Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...

in the 1995 presidential election. Fiterman associated CAP to the discussions regarding the Plural Left coalition with the PS, PCF and the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

. However, the party obtained the lowest electoral results out of all Plural Left members in the

1997 French legislative election A French legislative election took place on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before ...

, with

as the party's only parliamentarian. Since then, the party has declined due to an internal rivalry between the hard-left, seeking an extra-parliamentary far-left line; and reformists, seeking to transform the party in an eco-socialist party of the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...

. As a result, numerous members left CAP to join larger left-wing parties such as the PS or Greens. Today,

is the party's only parliamentarian and the party is active only in the Val-de-Marne and

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...

. In the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

, the party will run as part of the Left Front with the French Communist Party and the Left Party. {{French political parties 1994 establishments in France 2009 disestablishments in France Communist parties in France Political parties disestablished in 2009 Political parties established in 1994 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic