French centrist Bayrou creates new political party

PARIS, Apr 25 (Reuters) French centrist Francois Bayrou said today he was setting up a new political party to embrace the voters from the left and the right who supported him in the first round of the presidential election.

Bayrou, who currently heads the Union for French Democracy (UDF) party, was knocked out of the first round of the presidential elections on Sunday.

But he finished a strong third and his supporters are being courted by candidates rightwinger Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal before the second round vote on May 6.

The 7 million people who voted for Bayrou are seen as those who are fed up with the traditional parties on the left and the right and he is trying to turn them into loyal supporters ahead of June's parliamentary elections.

''In order to definitively change French politics, I am announcing the creation of a new political party, the Democratic Party,'' Bayrou told a news conference.

He said the party would put forward candidates in every district in the legislative elections and would be a serious alternative to the Socialists and the ruling UMP.

The UDF party was founded by former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing in 1978 and has been the traditional ally of centre-right governments since, including Sarkozy's ruling UMP.

Creating a new party of the centre might allow Bayrou to shed his conservative image and win over new voters on the left.

But the stakes are high.

The UDF only has 29 deputies out of 577 in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and an analysis by Le Monde newspaper on Tuesday said that none of them are likely to keep their seats without support from the ruling UMP.

Bayrou has refused to endorse either of the presidential candidates and his criticism of Sarkozy was unusually harsh, despite threats to withdraw the UMP's support in parliament.

Bayrou said most UDF members would join the new party.

But a handful of his party's deputies have already declared they will support Sarkozy in the second round vote and some have said they plan to stay put with the UDF.

''If Francois Bayrou is proud enough to create a new party, he will not have any voters behind him,'' UDF deputy Andre Santini told Le Figaro newspaper on Tuesday.

''Bayrou was the street sweeper in this election. After that, he's going to collapse. On May 6, there will be nobody behind him. I'm historically UDF, and that's where I'll stay.'' It will not be the first time the UDF party has undergone major changes. After the 2002 presidential elections, UDF members joined President Jacques Chirac's Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) party to create a new party, the UMP.

The UMP then won an easy majority in the National Assembly.

Reuters RS GC2255