Democratic Movement (France)

History

Background

MoDem traces its roots to the Union for French Democracy (UDF), a centrist coalition/party active from 1978 to 2007. The UDF had always supported centre-right governments since its creation by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who was president of France from 1974 to 1981.

In the 2002 presidential election the centre-right was so fractured that each of its constituent parties, the Rally for the Republic, the UDF and Liberal Democracy, ran a candidate: Jacques Chirac (19.9%), François Bayrou (6.8%) and Alain Madelin (3.9%), respectively. Following Chirac's landslide re-election over Jean-Marie Le Pen, the UDF aligned with the newly-formed Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), but chose not to be part of it and, while most of its members directly joined the UMP, the rump of the UDF became increasingly independent. During Chirac's second term, it did not participate in the governments led by Jean-Pierre Raffarin and François Fillon (except for Gilles de Robien), but took part in the government coalition in the Senate until 2007. However, on the initiative of its leader Bayrou, it eventually supported a censure motion along with the Socialist Party (PS).

2007 presidential and legislative elections

During the campaign for the 2007 presidential election, candidate Bayrou advocated a national unity government. He presented himself as a centrist and a social-liberal, proclaiming that, if elected, he would "govern beyond the left–right divide". Although eliminated in the first round, he was able to garner 18.6% of the vote, with voters supporting him partly because of his independence from major parties. Following the election, he launched the Democratic Movement (MoDem) on 29 May to reinforce his strategy of political autonomy from the centre-right. MoDem was also supported by the Union of Radical Republicans. Some members of the UDF did not agree with this new strategy because the weighted French balloting system would hinder the party from obtaining seats in the upcoming legislative election. These members created the New Centre (NC) — later The Centrists —, continuing their support for the newly elected president Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the first round of the 2007 legislative election MoDem won 7.6% of the vote. Candidates ran under the UDF-MoDem banner, since the party had not yet been created officially. The party gained only three seats in the National Assembly (not including Abdoulatifou Aly, who was elected in Mayotte for a party affiliated to MoDem, sat with the NC for a while and later sat with MoDem deputies). Additionally, one of its MPs, Thierry Benoit, was vocally critical of the party and its strategy, indicating that he was elected as a UDF, rather than a MoDem, representative, while defending the party's third-way policies, and soon left for Rally the Centrists, later incorporated in the Centrist Alliance.

Official foundation and following elections

MoDem became an official political party in December 2007 following its founding assembly in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the suburbs of Paris. The assembly elected Bayrou, who ran uncontested, as party president, as well its provisional executive board. In November, the UDF effectively ceased to exist, and was fully integrated into MoDem.

In the 2009 European Parliament election MoDem won 8.5% of the vote and six seats.

In the 2012 presidential election Bayrou ran for the third time, winning 9.3% of the vote, half of what he had obtained five years before. In the subsequent legislative election the party was reduced to 1.8% and two seats. Also Bayrou lost his seat in the National Assembly, a seat he had held for most of his political career.

MoDem made a comeback in the 2014 European Parliament election: along with the newly-formed Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), also a successor of the UDF formed by UMP splinters, the party obtained 9.9% of the vote and seven seats. Before that, in the 2014 municipal elections, MoDem scored an average of 15% in cities with more than inhabitants, won over 50 cities, including Pau (with Bayrou), Biarritz, Saint-Brieuc, Mont-de-Marsan and Talence, and joined ruling coalitions in Bordeaux, Dijon, Saint-Étienne and Auxerre, among others.

Centrist coalition with President Macron

In the 2017 presidential election Bayour did not stand as candidate for the first time in 15 years, but endorsed Emmanuel Macron, who was elected by a landslide in second round over Marine Le Pen. Macron's strategy was to govern beyond the left–right divide, similarly to Bayrou's in 2007 and 2012, and bring about a political realignment. Consequently, in the following legislative election MoDem joined forces with Macron's La République En Marche! (LRM) — later Renaissance (RE) — and largely increased its seats in the National Assembly. Bayrou briefly served as minister of Justice in the first government under president Macron, before resigning as MoDem and its MEPs were accused of potentially fictitious employment practices within the European Parliament. However, MoDem continued to be an active part of the presidential majority and governments for the entire presidential term, as well as in the 2019 European Parliament election.

Macron was then re-elected in the 2022 presidential election, again with MoDem's support. Ahead of the 2022 legislative election, MoDem joined the Ensemble coalition with other centrist parties, notably including RE, Horizons and UDI, but the coalition lost the majority it previously held in the National Assembly. MoDem was part of the coalition also in the 2024 European Parliament election (obtaining three seats, down from five in 2019) and the subsequent, snap 2024 legislative election (obtaining 33 seats, down from 48 in 2022), during which the centrist camp was further reduced in its parliamentary seats. After the enlargement of the government coalition to The Republicans, the centre-right successor of the UMP, with Michel Barnier's minority government and the latter's fall due to a vote of no-confidence, in December 2024 Macron appointed Bayrou as prime minister, at the head of another minority government which would last until September 2025.

International affiliations

In 2004, Bayrou launched the European Democratic Party (EDP) along with his Italian ally Francesco Rutelli, whose Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy party was later incorporated in the social-democratic Democratic Party (PD) and replaced by minor groups in the EDP, as the PD had joined the Party of European Socialists instead. In 2005, the EDP created, along with the New Democrat Coalition of the Democratic Party of the United States, the Alliance of Democrats, a worldwide network of centrist and social-liberal parties.

In the European Parliament, MoDem has been part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group and, since 2019, the larger Renew Europe. In the European Committee of the Regions, MoDem sits in the Renew Europe CoR group.

Electoral results

Presidential elections

This table includes the 2002 and 2007 elections in which Bayrou presented himself as a candidate of the Union for French Democracy (UDF).

Legislative elections

European Parliament elections

The 2014 elections involved an alliance with the forces of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI); this joint list, The Alternative (L'Alternative), saw four MoDem MEPs out of seven elected from the list.

References

References

1. (16 December 2017). "Bayrou propose que le MoDem et LRM bâtissent une "maison commune" pour les prochaines élections". Le Monde.
2. "France – Political parties". Norwegian Centre for Research Data.
3. (2017). "The 2017 French Presidential Elections: A Political Reformation?". Springer.
4. Alousque, Isabel. (2011). "Dimensions of Humor: Explorations in Linguistics, Literature, Cultural Studies and Translation". Universitat de València.
5. http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_140581_en.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (25 February 2014 {{Bare URL PDF). (August 2024)
6. Amable, Bruno. (2017). "Structural Crisis and Institutional Change in Modern Capitalism: French Capitalism in Transition". OUP Oxford.
7. (13 June 2017). "French PM rebukes minister Bayrou for complaining to broadcaster". Reuters.
8. Iclinkas, Anne. (26 November 2024). "France unveils new measures to protect women in wake of Pelicot affair". France 24.
9. Bellamy, Daniel. (17 November 2023). "French senator held in custody on suspicion of drugging female MP". Euronews.
10. Shankar, Priyanka. (13 December 2024). "Who is François Bayrou, France's new Prime Minister?". Al Jazeera.
11. Gilchrist, Karen. (5 January 2026). "France's Macron names François Bayrou as new Prime Minister following political turmoil". NBC Los Angeles.
12. (20 September 2024). "France on the verge of naming new government". Euronews.
13. Waldie, Paul. (5 January 2026). "France Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigns". The Globe and Mail.
14. (25 April 2007). "'Kingmaker' snubs French rivals". BBC News.
15. (5 May 2007). "François Bayrou baptisera son parti "Mouvement démocrate"". Le Monde.
16. (27 April 2007). "Le futur "Parti démocrate" de Bayrou existe déjà". Libération.
17. [http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8780184 The third man], ''[[The Economist]]'', 1 March 2007.
18. [http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8853752 Jacques Chirac's poisoned legacy], ''[[The Economist]]'', 16 March 2007, p. 17.
19. "M. Abdoulatifou Aly : Assemblée Nationale".
20. (5 July 2007). "''Pourquoi les députés du MoDem n'ont-ils pas voté la confiance au gouvernement''?". La Croix.
21. "M. Bayrou enterre l'UDF et célèbre la naissance du MoDem", ''Le Monde'', 1 December 2007
22. [http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2014/03/27/97001-20140327FILWWW00281-municipales-le-modem-a-fait-15-au-1er-tour.php "Municipales: le MoDem a fait 15% au 1er tour"] {{Webarchive. link. (23 July 2014 , ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 27 March 2014.)
23. (February 2025). "COMMUNIQUE".
24. (21 June 2017). "Top Macron ally Bayrou quits French government". BBC News.
25. Elizabeth Pineau (5 May 2022), [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/parties-linked-frances-macron-form-coalition-parliament-elections-2022-05-05/ Parties linked to France's Macron form coalition for parliament elections] {{Webarchive. link. (7 May 2022 ''[[Reuters]]''.)
26. (23 December 2024). "French PM Bayrou appoints new government. Former prime minister Elisabeth Borne named education minister".