The Republican Party was a French

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...

 right-wing

Left-Right politics

The left–right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions, political ideologies, or political parties along a one-dimensional political spectrum. The perspective of Left vs. Right is a binary interpretation of complex questions...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 founded in 1977. It replaced the National Federation of the Independent Republicans

Independent Republicans

The Independent Republicans were a French liberal-conservative political group founded in 1962, which became a political party in 1966 . The leader was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing....

 that was founded in 1966. It was created by former President of France 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...

. It was known to be conservative in domestic, social and economic policies, pro-Nato, and pro-European

Pro-European

Pro-European is a subjective term applied to a person who supports the idea of European unification and generally supports further 'deepening' of European integration, specifically in the context of political argument over the current and future status of the EU and its policies.-The Pro-European...

.

In 1978, the Republican Party allied with centrist groups to form 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...

 (Union pour la démocratie française, UDF), a confederation created in order to support President Giscard d'Estaing and counterbalance the influence of the Rally for the Republic

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...

 over the right. However, after Giscard d'Estaing's defeat at the 1981 presidential election

French presidential election, 1981

The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....

, the PR gravitated away from its founder and a new generation of politicians, led by François Léotard

François Léotard

François Gerard Marie Léotard is a retired French politician. The late singer and actor Philippe Léotard was his brother....

, took the lead.

This group called la bande à Léo ("Léo(tard)'s band"), advocated an alliance with the Neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic

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...

 (RPR) and covertly supported 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...

's candidacy at the 1988

French presidential election, 1988

Presidential elections were held in France on 24 April and 8 May 1988.In 1981, the Socialist Party leader, François Mitterrand, was elected President of France and the Left won the legislative election. However, in 1986, the Right regained a parliamentary majority. President Mitterrand was forced...

, against the official UDF candidate Raymond Barre

Raymond Barre

Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French centre-right politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three Presidents and later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981...

.

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 PR divided again between the two main right-wing candidates: François Léotard

François Léotard

François Gerard Marie Léotard is a retired French politician. The late singer and actor Philippe Léotard was his brother....

 and Gérard Longuet

Gérard Longuet

Gérard Longuet is a French conservative politician. On 27 February 2011, he became the new French Defense Minister.-Biography:...

 supported 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...

 while Alain Madelin

Alain Madelin

Alain Madelin is a French politician and a former minister of that country.Madelin, a strong supporter of laissez-faire economics, was a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election as the leader of the Démocratie Libérale party, where he scored 3.91% on the first round...

 and 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...

 supported 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...

, who won.

Until the split of the UDF confederation in 1998, the Republican Party was its liberal component, advocating economic liberalism

Economic liberalism

Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in giving all people economic freedom, and as such granting people with more basis to control their own lives and make their own mistakes. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes individual liberty and choice in economic matters and...

. In 1997, it was replaced by 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,...

 (Démocratie libérale, DL), led by Alain Madelin

Alain Madelin

Alain Madelin is a French politician and a former minister of that country.Madelin, a strong supporter of laissez-faire economics, was a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election as the leader of the Démocratie Libérale party, where he scored 3.91% on the first round...

.

Independent Republicans

• 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...
  
   (1966-74)
• Michel Poniatowski
  Michel Poniatowski
  Michel Poniatowski was a Polish Prince and French politician. He was a founder of the Independent Republicans and a part of the administration for President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Poniatowski served as Minister of Health from 1973 to 1974 and Minister of the Interior in the d'Estaing government...
  
   (1975-77)

Republican Party

• Jean-Pierre Soisson
  Jean-Pierre Soisson
  Jean-Pierre Soisson is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement who is a deputy in the National Assembly of France for the first district of Yonne....
  
   (1977-88)
• François Léotard
  François Léotard
  François Gerard Marie Léotard is a retired French politician. The late singer and actor Philippe Léotard was his brother....
  
   (1988-90)
• Gérard Longuet
  Gérard Longuet
  Gérard Longuet is a French conservative politician. On 27 February 2011, he became the new French Defense Minister.-Biography:...
  
   (1990-95)
• François Léotard
  François Léotard
  François Gerard Marie Léotard is a retired French politician. The late singer and actor Philippe Léotard was his brother....
  
   (1995-97)
• Alain Madelin
  Alain Madelin
  Alain Madelin is a French politician and a former minister of that country.Madelin, a strong supporter of laissez-faire economics, was a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election as the leader of the Démocratie Libérale party, where he scored 3.91% on the first round...
  
  (1997)