Democratic Force was a French centrist political party founded in 1995 by the merger between the centrist components of the Union for French Democracy

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...

 (Union pour la démocratie française or UDF): the Christian-democratic Centre of Social Democrats and the Social Democratic Party.

It disappeared in 1998, when the UDF confederation became a unified centrist political party. The former leader of Democratic Force, 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....

, became president of this party.