The Popular Party for French Democracy (Parti populaire pour la démocratie française, PPDF) was a centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

-liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 party in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

It was launched in July 1995, as a successor to the Perspectives and Realities Clubs

Perspectives and Realities Clubs

The National Federation of Perspectives and Realities Clubs was a centrist political movement in France....

 and as a component of the Union for French Democracy

Union for French Democracy

The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...

 (UDF) centre-right confederation. Indeed, during the 1995 presidential campaign

French presidential election, 1995

Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...

, the most part of the UDF

Union for French Democracy

The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...

 politicians supported the Neo-Gaullist Prime Minister Edouard Balladur

Édouard Balladur

Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...

, against the instruction of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...

, the founder and president of the UDF

Union for French Democracy

The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...

, who called to vote for the other RPR

Rally for the Republic

The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...

 candidate Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

. The PPDF was created to organize Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...

's faithfuls within the UDF

Union for French Democracy

The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...

 (Hervé de Charette

Hervé de Charette

Hervé de Charette is a French centre-right politician.He is a descendant of the royalist military leader François de Charette. Member of the Union for French Democracy , he was elected deputy for the first time in 1986 as representative of the Maine-et-Loire département...

, Jean-Pierre Fourcade

Jean-Pierre Fourcade

Jean-Pierre Fourcade is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Hauts-de-Seine department and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement Party. He is former minister for Economics and Finance , and equipment .-References:*...

, Dominique Bussereau

Dominique Bussereau

Dominique Bussereau is a French politician, was Secretary of State for Transport within the government of François Fillon...

, Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...

, Jean-François Mattéi

Jean-François Mattéi

Jean-François Mattéi, born 9 March 1941 in Oran, Algeria, is a French philosopher.-External links:...

, Pierre Albertini

Pierre Albertini

Pierre Albertini is mayor of Rouen, France and a former deputy to the National Assembly of France , both on behalf of the Union for French Democracy.-External links: *...

, Jean-François Humbert

Jean-François Humbert

Jean-François Humbert is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Doubs department and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement Party....

, Françoise Hostalier

Françoise Hostalier

Françoise Hostalier is a member of the National Assembly of France. She represents the Nord department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...

, Robert Hersant

Robert Hersant

Robert Hersant was a French newspaper magnate with right-wing political views.- Biography :Hersant was born in Vertou, Loire-Atlantique....

). Nevertheless, it could not prevent the departure of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...

 from the presidency of the centre-right confederation in 1996.

In 1998, the PPDF participated in the transformation of the UDF into the New UDF (from an alliance of parties to a single party), although retaining some of its autonomy and having lost some members to Liberal Democracy

Liberal Democracy (France)

Liberal Democracy was a French political party that advocated conservative liberalism and liberal conservatism, headed by Alain Madelin. The party replaced in 1997 the Republican Party, which was the classical liberal component of the Union for French Democracy .It became independent in 1998,...

, including Jean-François Mattei, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique Bussereau.

In 2002 the party finally merged into the Union for a Popular Movement

Union for a Popular Movement

The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

(UMP).