Democratic Centre Union

Democratic Centre Union Union du Centre démocratique
Abbreviation	UCD
Leader	Simon Bachelet
Founded	30 September 1990
Preceded by	National Republican People's Party
Ideology	Centrism National liberalism Bacheletism Social conservatism
Political position	Centre to Centre-right
Colors	Blue, white
Seats	5 / 14
Website
www.ucd.sb
Political parties

The Democratic Centre Union (Principean: Union du Centre démocratique, UCD) is a centrist political party in Saint-Baptiste. The successor of the National Republican People's Party, the UCD is one of two main parties in Saint-Baptiste, alongside the National Action Party. At present, the party forms the official opposition, holding five seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The party traditionally takes a more conservative approach to policy, although it is considered the more financially interventionist of the two main parties, and attempts to ascribe to a catch-all and non-ideological position in regards to policy.

History

The Democratic Centre Union was founded on 30 September 1990, reforming what remained of the National Republican People's Party after Saint-Baptiste's democratization earlier that year. The party initially lost both the 1991 presidential and parliamentary, seeing itself form the official opposition to the big tent Movement for Democratic Reform (MRD), which gained both a parliamentary majority and control of the presidency. However, by the 1995 elections, the MRD had all but collapsed, and the UCD under Cyrille Bachelet was able to capture a landslide majority of thirteen seats. It was during Bachelet's term as Prime Minister that Saint-Baptiste joined the Assembly of Marceaunian States in 1996, and saw a boost in tourism. Bachelet would later become President in 1996. Despite these improvements, the UCD was caught by a economic downturn in 1998 and 1999, paving the way for the National Action Party to gain a majority in 1999, regulating the UCD back into opposition. Despite this loss, the party would hold onto the presidency for twelve consecutive years, and returned to government in 2007 amidst the Ménard scandal. The UCD would later lose power of both branches in 2011, when the National Action Party would secure both a parliamentary majority and the presidency for the first time, partially due to a financial scandal surrounding UCD Prime Minster Cyrille Bachelet. Since then, the Democratic Centre Union has remained in opposition, although its position has improved in the 2019, winning five out of fourteen seats in the Chamber of Deputies under the leadership of Simon Bachelet.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Election year	Leader	# of votes	% of vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Govt?
1991	Pierre-Marie Blanchet	7,419	45.79 (#2)	6 / 14	6	Official opposition
1995	Cyrille Bachelet	7,277	49.61 (#1)	13 / 14	7	Majority
1999	Bruno Camille	5,187	38.96 (#2)	3 / 14	10	Official opposition
2003	Adrien Baschet	6,036	43.97 (#1)	6 / 14	3	Official opposition
2007	Cyrille Bachelet	5,879	49.16 (#1)	10 / 14	4	Majority
2011		5,872	40.40 (#2)	4 / 14	6	Official opposition
2015	Silvain Kléber	5,910	42.40 (#2)	3 / 14	1	Official opposition
2019	Simon Bachelet	6,517	41.00 (#2)	5 / 14	2	Official opposition

President

Election year	Candidate	1st round		2nd round
		# of votes	% of vote	# of votes	% of vote
1991	Édouard Bachelet	7,024	43.95 (#2)	7,539	45.08 (#2)
1996	Cyrille Bachelet	6,553	47.62 (#1)	7,333	52.73 (#1)
2001	Cyrille Bachelet	5,293	42.37 (#1)	7,631	55.81 (#1)
2006	Jean-Michel Fournier	4,025	37.11 (#1)	5,993	58.16 (#1)
2011	Jean-Michel Fournier	4,970	33.12 (#2)
2016	Étienne Chaney	5,228	39.01 (#2)	6,635	48.63 (#2)