National Centre of Independents and Peasants

National Centre of Independents and Peasants

Centre national des indépendants et paysans
National Centre of Independents and Peasants Centre national des indépendants et paysans
Departmental Councils	0 / 101
Website
	www.cnip.fr
	Politics of France; Political parties; Elections;

The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (French: Centre national des indépendants et paysans, CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (CNI), the heir of the French Republican conservative-liberal tradition^[2] (many party members came from the Democratic Republican Alliance), with the Peasant Party and the Republican Party of Liberty.

It played a major role during the Fourth Republic (prior to 1958), but since creation of the Fifth Republic, its importance has decreased significantly. The party has mostly run as a minor ally of larger centre-right parties. The CNI and its predecessors have been classical liberal and economically liberal parties opposed to the dirigisme of the left, centre and Gaullist right.

History

Fourth Republic

The Centre National des Indépendants was founded in January 1949 with the aim of uniting centre-right and right-wing parliamentarians, dispersed between a plethora of parties such as the

modérés (moderates). It adopted its current name in 1951 after it merged with Paul Antier's small Peasant Party (the successor of the pre-war French Agrarian and Peasant Party

).

As the leading right-wing force during the

Dien Bien Phu military disaster in Indochina

in 1954, and it remained in opposition for most of the last two years of the Fourth Republic after the 1956 elections.

During the Cold War the CNIP was a strongly anti-communist party, strongly supported and financed by

economically liberal than the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP), like the MRP it supported European integration and NATO. It was a militant defender of French Algeria throughout the Algerian War

.

Fifth Republic

In 1958, it supported

voted no-confidence in Georges Pompidou's government,^[4] opposing de Gaulle's constitutional reform on the election of the president by universal suffrage. However, the CNIP cabinet ministers, led by future president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, continued to support de Gaulle. With the support of 24 deputies, they founded their own party, the Independent Republicans

(RI).

Severely weakened by the split and its opposition to the October 1962 referendum, it suffered a major defeat in the 1962, left with only a handful of seats. It allied itself with the Popular Republican Movement (MRP) to form the Democratic Centre, later known as Progress and Modern Democracy, in which the CNIP was only a small component.

The party has never regained its former strength and became a marginal conservative group. In the 1980s, it attempted to serve as a 'bridge' between the parliamentary right (

FN).^[2] In the 1986 election, CNIP members appeared on RPR-UDF lists but it won three seats through local alliances with the FN in some departments. In 1997, it formed an ephemeral alliance with Philippe de Villiers' Movement for France

.

Recent history

The CNIP became an associate party of the

French National Assembly. François Lebel, mayor of the 8th arrondissement of Paris

joined the party in April 2008.

Since 2008, it hesitated between pursuing an alliance with President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP or allying itself with the centrist allies of the presidential majority, most notably Jean-Louis Borloo's Radical Party. It joined the Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority, a short-lived structuring committee composed of the UMP and its close allies. Gilles Bourdouleix, who took the reins of the party in 2009, announced in 2011 that his party was negotiating an alliance with Borloo's centrist Alliance républicaine, écologiste et sociale.^[5] Although these negotiations were unsuccessful, they provoked a major feud with the party's former leader, Annick du Roscoät,^[6] who wanted the party to keep its conservative orientation while Bourdouleix has sought to reposition the CNIP towards the centre-right.

In the

Arise the Republic

while it backed the UMP or dissident right-wing lists in other regions.

On September 19, 2012, Bourdouleix - the party's only remaining deputy - announced that the CNIP was joining Borloo's centre-right Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI).^[7] He had already joined the UDI group in the National Assembly in June 2012. But on 10 September, the CNIP was expelled from the UDI after Gilles Bourdouleix had declared the "Maybe Hitler hadn't killed enough Romas".^[8]

CNIP joined the

Eric Zemmour's political party, Reconquête during the 2022 presidential election

.

Electoral results

Presidential election

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	Candidate president	Result
President of France
1965	13,083,699 (#1)	55.20	Charles de Gaulle	Won
1969	7,943,118 (#2)	41.79	Alain Poher	Lost
1974	13,396,203 (#1)	50.81	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	Won
1981	14,642,306 (#2)	48.24	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	Lost
1988	5,031,849 (#3)	16.55	Raymond Barre	Lost
1995	1,443,186 (#7)	4.74	Philippe de Villiers	Lost
2002	25,537,956 (#1)	82.21	Jacques Chirac	Won
2007	18,983,138 (#1)	53.06	Nicolas Sarkozy	Won
2012	16,860,685 (#2)	48.36	Nicolas Sarkozy	Lost
2022	2,485,226 (#4)	7.07	Éric Zemmour	Lost

French Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
National Assembly
1951	2,563,782 (#4)	13.64	96 / 625	–	Roger Duchet
1956	3,259,782 (#2)	14.99	95 / 595	1	Roger Duchet
1958	4,092,600 (#2)	19.9	132 / 546	37	Roger Duchet
1962	1,404,177 (#6)	7.66	28 / 491	104	Camille Laurens
1967	Ran together with UD-V^e		0 / 491	28	Camille Laurens
1968	Ran together with UDR		0 / 491	-	Camille Laurens
1973	Ran together with UDR		0 / 491	-	Camille Laurens
1978	Ran together with RPR		8 / 491 ^[a]	8	Bertrand Motte
1981	Ran together with RPR		5 / 491 ^[b]	3	Philippe Malaud
1986	Ran together with RPR		5 / 573 ^[c]	-	Philippe Malaud
1988	Ran together with RPR		5 / 577	-	Jacques Féron
1993	122,194 (#13)^[9]	0.5	2 / 577	3	Jean-Antoine Giansily
1997	132,814 (#13)^[10]	0.52	0 / 577	2	Olivier d'Ormesson
2002	14,403 (#19)^[11]	0.06	2 / 577	2	Annick du Roscoät
2007	Ran together with UMP		2 / 577	-	Annick du Roscoät
2012	Ran together with UMP		1 / 577	1	Gilles Bourdouleix

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
European Parliament
1979*	5,588,851 (#1)	27.61	0 / 81	–	Bertrand Motte
1984**	8,683,596 (#1)	43.03	2 / 81	2	Philippe Malaud
1989**	5,242,038 (#1)	28.88	2 / 81	-	Jacques Féron
1994**	4,985,574 (#1)	25.58	0 / 87	2	Jean-Antoine Giansily
2009	8,656 (#12)	0.05	0 / 72	-	Annick du Roscoät

Notes

In 1979, the CNIP was associated to the UDF.
- From 1984 to 2009, the CNIP was associated to RPR-UDF alliance.

Leaders

Until 1973, the party was led by a secretary-general

1949–1961: Roger Duchet
1961–1973: Camille Laurens

Since 1973, the party has been led by a president

1973–1975: François Schleiter
1975–1979: Bertrand Motte
1979–1980: collegial leadership (Jacques Fouchier, Maurice Ligot, Raymond Bourgine)
1980–1987: Philippe Malaud
1987–1989: Jacques Féron
1989–1992: Yvon Briant
1992–1996: Jean-Antoine Giansily
1996–1998: Olivier d'Ormesson
1998–1999: Jean Perrin
1999–2000: Gérard Bourgoin
2000–2009: Annick du Roscoät
since 2009: Gilles Bourdouleix

Elected officials

Gilles Bourdouleix (Maine-et-Loire), deputy and mayor of Cholet

Notes

^ 4 members in the UDF group, 2 in the RPR group, 2 non-affiliated.
^ 3 members in the UDF group, 2 in the RPR group.
^ 3 members in the FN group, 2 in the RPR group.

References

^ "Européennes: Poisson dit qu'il sera en position éligible sur la liste de Dupont-Aignan". 21 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Affaire Bourdouleix : Le CNIP, entre droite et extrême droite". La Croix. 24 July 2013.
^ Jean-Pierre Rioux, La France de la Quatrième République, tome 2, "L'expansion et l'impuissance", Nouvelle histoire de la France contemporaine n°16, Seuil, Paris, 1983, p.90
^ Proceedings of the National Assembly, 4 October 1962, second sitting; vote tally on p. 3268. p. 38 in the PDF file
^ Le CNIP de Gilles Bourdouleix se rapproche de Jean-Louis Borloo, Ouest-France July 1, 2011
^ Annick du Roscoät : « Avec Gilles Bourdouleix, le CNIP est mort ! ».
^ Le CNI rejoint l'UDI de Borloo, Le Figaro, September 19, 2012.
^ "Le CNIP viré de l'UDI".
^ "1993". France-politique.fr.
^ "1997". France-politique.fr.
^ "2002". France-politique.fr.

External links

Official website

[9] 4 members in the UDF group, 2 in the RPR group, 2 non-affiliated.

[10] 3 members in the UDF group, 2 in the RPR group.

[11] 3 members in the FN group, 2 in the RPR group.

[1] "Européennes: Poisson dit qu'il sera en position éligible sur la liste de Dupont-Aignan". 21 March 2019.

[la-croix-2] "Affaire Bourdouleix : Le CNIP, entre droite et extrême droite". La Croix. 24 July 2013.

[3] Jean-Pierre Rioux, La France de la Quatrième République, tome 2, "L'expansion et l'impuissance", Nouvelle histoire de la France contemporaine n°16, Seuil, Paris, 1983, p.90

[4] Proceedings of the National Assembly, 4 October 1962, second sitting; vote tally on p. 3268. p. 38 in the PDF file

[5] Le CNIP de Gilles Bourdouleix se rapproche de Jean-Louis Borloo, Ouest-France July 1, 2011

[6] Annick du Roscoät : « Avec Gilles Bourdouleix, le CNIP est mort ! ».

[7] Le CNI rejoint l'UDI de Borloo, Le Figaro, September 19, 2012.

[8] "Le CNIP viré de l'UDI".

[12] "1993". France-politique.fr.

[13] "1997". France-politique.fr.

[14] "2002". France-politique.fr.

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