The Union for the Defence of the Republic (French: Union pour la défense de la République [ynjɔ̃ puʁ la defɑ̃s də la ʁepyblik]), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic (French: Union des démocrates pour la République [ynjɔ̃ de demɔkʁat puʁ la ʁepyblik]), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist political party in France which existed from 1967 to 1976.
The UDR was the successor to Charles de Gaulle's earlier party, the Rally of the French People, and was organised in 1958, along with the founding of the Fifth Republic as the Union for the New Republic (UNR), and in 1962 merged with the Democratic Union of Labour, a left-wing Gaullist group. In 1967 it was joined by some Christian Democrats to form the Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic, later dropping the 'Fifth'. After the May 1968 crisis, it formed a right-wing coalition named Union for the Defense of the Republic (UDR); it was subsequently renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic, retaining the abbreviation UDR, in October 1968.
Under de Gaulle's successor Georges Pompidou it promoted the Gaullist movement. It dissolved in 1976, and its successor was the Rally for the Republic (RPR) founded by Jacques Chirac.
Contents
Secretaries-general
1968–71: Robert Poujade
1971–72: René Tomasini
1972–73: Alain Peyrefitte
1973–74: Alexandre Sanguinetti
1974–75: Jacques Chirac
1975–76: André Bord
1976: Yves Guéna