Democratic Centre (France)
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Democratic Centre
Centre Démocrate |
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| President | Jean Lecanuet |
| Secretary-General | Pierre Abelin |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Dissolved | 1976 |
| Merger of | MRP, CNIP |
| Merged into | Centre of Social Democrats |
| Ideology | Christian democracy |
| Political position | Centre |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| International affiliation | Christian Democrat International |
| European Parliament group | Christian Democratic Group |
| Colours | Light blue |
Democratic Centre (French: Centre Démocrate, CD) was a Christian-democratic and centrist 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 (CDS). The party's long-time leader was Jean Lecanuet.
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 (MRP) and the liberal and conservative National Center of Independents and Peasants (CNIP). Its goal was to incarnate a third way between the left-wing opposition (which was Marxist and anticlerical) and the Gaullist coalition (accused of being Eurosceptic, 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 about regionalization and Senate 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, a former Gaullist Prime Minister. Later in 1969 some centrists joined the presidential majority and the cabinet of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a reforming Gaullist, and founded the Centre, Democracy and Progress (CDP) as majority of member 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.
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