The Union of Radical Republicans (Union des républicains radicaux, U2R) is a French political party with its origins in the Radical faction of the Republican Pole, an organization rallying together supporters of Jean-Pierre Chevènement

Jean-Pierre Chevènement

Jean-Pierre Chevènement is a French politician. He was Minister of Defense from 1988 to 1991 and Minister of the Interior from 1997 to 2000. He was a presidential candidate in 2002 and since 2008 has been a member of the Senate....

's candidacy for the 2002 presidential election

French presidential election, 2002

The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...

. It included members of the Left Radical Party

Left Radical Party

The Radical Party of the Left is a minor social-liberal, and in opposition to its common understanding of its name, a moderate centre-left political party in France advocating radicalism, secularism to its french extend known as laïcité, progressivism, pro-Europeanism, individual freedom and...

, including Emile Zuccarelli

Émile Zuccarelli

Émile Zuccarelli is a French politician from Corsica. He serves as honorary President of the Radical Party of the Left and mayor of Bastia. Until his defeat in the French legislative election, 2007, he was deputy for Haute-Corse.In the French regional elections, 2004, he led a PRG list in Corse,...

, as well as Valoisien Radicals, including Gérard Benhamou, a former 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...

 MEP.

The U2R has since distanced itself from Chevènement's Citizen and Republican Movement

Citizen and Republican Movement

The Citizen and Republican Movement is a political party in France. The party replaced, in 2002, the Citizens' Movement founded by Jean-Pierre Chevènement, who left the Socialist Party in 1993 due to his opposition to the Persian Gulf War and to the Maastricht Treaty...

 (MRC), and supported François Bayrou

François Bayrou

François Bayrou is a French centrist politician, president of Union for French Democracy since 1998 and was a candidate in the 2002 and 2007 French presidential elections. In the first round, he received 18.6% of the vote, finishing in 3rd place and therefore was eliminated from the race....

's candidacy for the 2007 presidential election

French presidential election, 2007

The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...

. However it later distanced itself from Bayrou and joined The Progressives

The Progressives

The Progressives is a social-democratic French political party associated to the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement....

.