Leader Frédéric Nihous Headquarters BP 87546 64075 Pau | Founded 1989 European affiliation Libertas | |
 | ||
Ideology Agrarianism,
Traditional conservatism,
Euroscepticism National affiliation Union for a Popular Movement | ||
Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition (French: Chasse, pêche, nature et traditions; [ʃas, pɛʃ, natyʁ e tʁadiˈsjɔ̃]; abbreviated as CPNT [se.pe.ɛnˈte]) is an agrarianist French political party which aims to defend the traditional values of rural France. Its current leader is Frédéric Nihous. The party states it is neither right nor left but represents rural people on the whole in their diversity.
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The party was a member of the Presidential Majority of Nicolas Sarkozy.
History
Formed in 1985, it contested both the European elections of 1989 and 1994 without success. In 1999]], it obtained six seats, led by Jean Saint-Josse who was at the top of the list. It lost all representation at the following election to the European Parliament in 2004, when it obtained less than the minimum 3% of votes that allow a party to be reimbursed for campaign expenses. Consequently, it faced a deficit of 300,000 euros. At one stage, it had 32 regional councillors, but lost all of them in that same year. After these problems, most members of the CPNT have joined the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) or the Movement for France, but the party is still in existence, and nominated Frédéric Nihous, a hunter from Northern France, as a candidate in the Presidential election of 2007. Nihous won 1.15% of votes only, much lower than Jean Saint-Josse in 2002.
In the 2009 European Parliament election, the party ran as the junior partner of the Movement for France under the etiquette of the Libertas political movement led by Irish businessman Declan Ganley. They won 4.8% of the vote, but only one seat, that of MPF leader Philippe de Villiers.
In August 2009, CPNT President Frédéric Nihous announced interest in joining the Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority, which co-ordinates the parties which support the policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Presidents
Popular support and electoral record
CPNT is strong, for obvious reasons, in certain rural areas of France with an important community of hunters. It is strong in the Somme River estuary to the west of Abbeville, in the Manche department and the Gironde department. In the 1999 European election, CPNT won 25% of the vote in the Somme, 15.4% in the Manche, 15.2% in the Landes department and 11.9% in Gironde. In stark contrast, the party barely won 1% of the vote that year in the Alsatian department of Bas-Rhin and did poorly in the east of France, much more industrialized and much less agrarian.
CPNT has three general councillors: one in the Somme, one in Gironde and one in the Hérault department.