The Rally–UMP

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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