The Union for a Popular Movement (French: Union pour un Mouvement Populaire ; UMP ) is a centre-right political party in France, being one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the centre-left Socialist Party (PS). The UMP was formed in 2002 as a merger of several centre-right parties under President Jacques Chirac.
The former leader of the UMP, Nicolas Sarkozy, was elected President of France in the 2007 presidential election, but was defeated by Socialist François Hollande in a run-off five years later. The party enjoyed an absolute majority in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2012. The UMP is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).
Since November 2012 national congress the leader of the party is Jean-François Copé, who narrowly beat François Fillon (50.03% to 49.97% among party members). Accusations of voter fraud did lead former Prime Minister Francois Fillon to "precautionary seizure" of ballots cast "to protect them from tampering or alteration".
Read more about Union For A Popular Movement: Factions, Elected Officials, Popular Support
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