The Republican Party of Liberty was a right-of-center French political party created at the Liberation and absorbed by the National Centre of Independents and Peasants

National Centre of Independents and Peasants

The National Centre of Independents and Peasants is a liberal-conservative and conservative-liberal political party in France, founded in 1949 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents with the...

 (CNI) in 1951. It was founded on 22 December 1945 by Joseph Laniel

Joseph Laniel

Joseph Laniel was a French conservative politician of the Fourth Republic, who served as Prime Minister for a year from 1953 to 1954. During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful candidate for the French Presidency, a post won by René Coty...

, André Mutter, Édouard Frédéric-Dupont and Jules Ramarony.

The PRL's aim was to gather the French conservatives, totally discredited after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 due to the importance of Collaborators in their ranks and their role during the interwar period

Interwar period

Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....

. Bernard Frank

Bernard Frank (journalist)

Bernard Frank was a Jewish French journalist and writer.Bernard Frank was raised in a comfortable family, where his father was a bank manager. After his baccalauréat, he started a Khâgne at the Lycée Pasteur but was expelled for bad conduct...

 mocked "this right which suddenly discovered itself a love for the Republic and liberty." The PRL's tentative failed, most conservative leaders trying to conserve their autonomy or to recreate parties of the Third Republic

French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

 such as the Democratic Alliance

Democratic Republican Alliance

The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...

, the Republican Federation

Republican Federation

The Republican Federation was the largest conservative party during the French Third Republic, gathering together the liberal Orleanists rallied to the Republic. Founded in November 1903, it rivalized with the more secular and centrist Alliance démocratique...

 or the Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation

Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation

The Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation was a French political party founded in 1945 by former members of François de La Rocque's French Social Party who wished to continue the pre-war PSF....

 (Parti républicain social de la réconciliation française).

The PRL campaigned for the "NO" to the 1946 referendum on the Constitution. It obtained 38 deputies at the 1946 legislative elections

French legislative elections, 1946

Legislative elections were held in France twice in 1946:*French legislative election, June 1946*French legislative election, November 1946...

. The party was presided by Michel Clemenceau, who obtained 60 votes out of 883 during the 1947 presidential election

French presidential election, 1947

Indirect presidential elections were held in France on 16 January 1947. All members of the Parliament of France voted to elect the first President of the Fourth Republic....

 — under the Fourth Republic

Fourth Republic

Fourth Republic may refer to:* French Fourth Republic * Fourth Republic of the Philippines * Fourth Republic of South Korea * The Fourth Republic of Niger...

, the President was elected by great electors, not by universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

.

The PRL then obtained 11 Senators in the indirect elections for the Council of the Republic of 1948. After numerous internal dissensions, the PRL merged into the CNI in 1951.

Members

• Michel Clemenceau, President.
• Robert Bertolaud
• Édouard Barrachin
• Henry Bergasse
• Robert Bruyneel
• Jean Crouzier
• Édouard Frédéric-Dupont
• Henri Giraud
  Henri Giraud
  Henri Honoré Giraud was a French general who fought in World War I and World War II. Captured in both wars, he escaped each time....
  
  
• Pierre July
• Joseph Laniel
  Joseph Laniel
  Joseph Laniel was a French conservative politician of the Fourth Republic, who served as Prime Minister for a year from 1953 to 1954. During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful candidate for the French Presidency, a post won by René Coty...
  
  
• Joseph Lecacheux
• Jean Legendre
• Pierre Montel
• André Mutter
• Jules Ramarony