The
The Rally–UMP (, until 2002
Rally for Caledonia in the Republic ) is a conservative
political party in
New Caledonia, strongly supportive of the
French status of the region; it is affiliated with the French
Union for a Popular Movement.
History
In
1977, which saw the start of an outright nationalist movement on the left, anti-nationalist (loyalist)
Caldoche leader
Jacques Lafleur founded the
Rally for Caledonia (RPC) which became the
Rally for Caledonia in the Republic (RPCR) in
1978 following its affiliation with the
Rally for the Republic (RPR) in
France. The RPCR was originally a big tent for a large majority of loyalists, whether they were liberals or close supporters of
Jacques Chirac (such as Lafleur). However, the first cracks in the RPCR appeared in
1995, when Lafleur broke his historical friendship with Chirac to endorse
Balladur in the
1995 presidential election in France.
Didier Leroux, the strongman of the local managerial trade union and a close supporter of Jacques Chirac, left the RPCR to found a party named A New Caledonia for All). However, the RPCR remained, by far, the largest loyalist party in the 1994 and 1999 elections. It became the Rassemblement-UMP after the creation of the
Union for a Popular Movement in
France in
2002, but kept the RPCR acronym.
However, the RPCR started massively cracking ahead of the
2004 elections. In 2004, a group of RPCR dissidents who opposed Lafleur’s authoritarian leadership formed the
Future Together party. The...
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