The Rurality Movement ( ; LMR ), formerly Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions ( ; CPNT ) is an agrarianist

political party in France This article contains a list of political parties in France. France has a Multi-party system, multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political party, political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevita ...

that aims to defend the traditional values of rural France. Its leader is Eddie Puyjalon. The party states it is neither right nor left but represents rural people on the whole in their diversity. The party was a member of the presidential majority of

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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

History

Formed in 1985, it contested both the European elections of

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

without success. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, it obtained six seats, led by

Jean Saint-Josse Jean Saint-Josse (; born 22 March 1944 in Coarraze, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is a French politician and former member of the Rally for the Republic (RPR), he was the leader of the ruralist Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions (CPNT) party ...

who was at the top of the list. It lost all representation at the following election to the European Parliament in 2004, when it obtained less than the minimum 3% of votes that allow a party to be reimbursed for campaign expenses. Consequently, it faced a deficit of 300,000 euros. At one stage, it had 32 regional councillors, but lost all of them in that same year. After these problems, most members of the CPNT have joined the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) or the

Movement for France The Movement for France (, MPF; ) was a Conservatism, conservative Soft Euroscepticism, Eurosceptic List of political parties in France, French political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked Regions of France, regional stronghold in ...

, but the party is still in existence, and nominated

Frédéric Nihous Frédéric Nihous (born 15 August 1967) is a French politician from the Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Traditions (CPNT) party. He was a candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, but was eliminated in the first round of balloting. He wa ...

, a hunter from Northern France, as a candidate in the Presidential election of 2007. Nihous won 1.15% of votes only, much lower than

in 2002. 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 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

, the party ran as the junior partner of the

under the etiquette of the

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the late republic. She sometimes also appeared on coins from the imperial period, such as Galba's "Freedom ...

political movement led by Irish businessman

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the eurosceptic Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur ...

. They won 4.8% of the vote, but only one seat, that of MPF leader

Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority The Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority (, also called the Committee of the Presidential Majority or Committee of the Majority) was a structure initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate the political parties that support his action. ...

, which co-ordinates the parties which support the policies of President

. After the standing down of Frédéric Nihous in March 2016, Eddie Puyjalon assumed the leadership of the party.

Presidents

André Goustat André Goustat was a French politician who was the co-founder of CPNT, an agrarianist political party in France. Goustat also served as the mayor of Mauzac-et-Grand-Castang and as the regional councilor of Aquitaine from 1992 to 2004. Biograp ...

(1989–1998) *

(1998–2008) *

(2008–2016) * Eddie Puyjalon (2016– )

Popular support and electoral record

CPNT is strong in certain rural areas of France with an important community of

hunters Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. It is strong in the

Somme River The Somme ( , ; ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geologica ...

estuary to the west of

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

, in the

Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

department and the

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

department. In the 1999 European election, CPNT won 25% of the vote in the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

, 15.4% in the Manche, 15.2% in the Landes department and 11.9% in Gironde. In stark contrast, the party barely won 1% of the vote that year in the Alsatian department of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

and did poorly in the east of France, much more industrialized and much less agrarian. CPNT has three general councillors: one in the Somme, one in Gironde and one in the Hérault department.

Presidential

Legislative

European Parliament

References

External links

CPNT web site - in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rurality Movement Right-wing parties in France Libertas.eu Agrarian parties in Europe Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Political parties established in 1989 Recreational political parties Eurosceptic parties in France 1989 establishments in France Hunting in France Hunting organizations