Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (UMP, in French: Union pour un mouvement populaire) was a party French politician, initially called the Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la majorité présidentielle) to support the candidacy of President Jacques Chirac in the 2002 presidential election.
Its current leader is Jean-François Copé, who served as general secretary and was elected in the Assembly of the formation held in November 2012, thus succeeding former president Nicolás Sarkozy as head of the party.
Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France in 2007 and the party had an absolute majority in the Senate and also in the National Assembly. The majority was lost in 2011 in the Senate. Jean-François Copé is the party's general secretary. The party is a member of the European People's Party, of the Centrist Democratic International, and also of the International Democratic Union, a forum for conservative parties on a world scale.
The party was officially re-founded as The Republicans (French: Les Républicains) on May 30, 2015.
History of the UMP
Creation of the UMP
It was created on April 23, 2002 to unite the forces of the center-right in order to support Chirac in his candidacy for president of the French Republic (an end that they achieved). On April 23, it was called Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle ("Union for the Presidential Majority"), but at its founding congress on November 17, 2002, the name was changed to Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP, "Union for a Popular Movement"). The main parties that formed it (ceasing to exist) were Rally for the Republic (RPR), of Gaullist ideology, and Liberal Democracy (DL), of liberal ideology, and some members of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), of centrist ideology. and the Radical Party.
Internal elections and party presidents
The first president of the UMP was Alain Juppé, who resigned on July 16, 2004, because he was convicted by the courts in the matter of fictitious jobs for the Paris mayor's office.
On November 28, 2004, at the Bourget congress, Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of the movement, ahead of Christine Boutin, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and François Grosdidier.
- Alain Juppé: Foundation - July 16, 2004.
- Nicolas Sarkozy: 28 November 2004 - current.
- Since 14 January 2007, the UMP party officially supports Nicolas Sarkozy, with more than 96 per cent, for the 2007 presidential elections.
Current internal organization
National address
- Secretary-General: Laurent Wauquiez
- Assistant Secretary General: Marc-Philippe Daubresse and Hervé Novelli
- Treasurer: Dominique Dord
- Political advisers: François Baroin, Christine Boutin, Luc Chatel, Rachida Dati, Christian Estrosi, Laurent Henart, Christian Jacob, Fabienne Keller, Marc Laffineur, Gérard Longuet, Nadine Morano, Renaud Muselier, Hervé Novelli, Marie-Luce Penchard, Catherine Vautrin, Éric Woerth, Rama Yade, Chantal Michelchi
- National Council: Jean-Pierre Raffarin (vice-president), Brice Hortefeux, Michèle Alliot-Marie and Pierre Méhaignerie (vice-presidents)
- National Commission of Inquiry: Jean-Claude Gaudin, President of the French CNI