Chevènement led the list ''l'autre politique
(the Other Policy) for 1994 European Parliament election. It included members of left-wing opposition (socialist and communist candidates) to Maastricht Treaty, feminists, radicals, and Gaullists. The MDC supported the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin for the 1995 French presidential election, then integrated the Gauche plurielle coalition. From 1997 to 2000, it was represented in the government by Chevènement as Interior Minister. In order to prepare the 2002 French presidential election, Chevènement created the Pôle républicain'', which included a wide range of politicians including radicals, Gaullists,
souverainists, and socialists. He won over 5% and is sometimes blamed for Jospin's elimination. Its lack of success in the
2002 French legislative election, losing all 7 MDC deputies elected in 1997, prompted Chevènement to rename his party the Citizen and Republican Movement. Chevènement was defeated in his seat in
Territoire-de-Belfort. The foundation of the MRC meant a realignment to the left, and the
Pôle républicain was supposed to gather "the Republicans of the left and the right". Chevènement and the MRC supported the Socialist Ségolène Royal's candidacy in the
2007 French presidential election to prevent a new 21 April 2002 shock. The MRC fielded candidates in the
2007 French legislative election, including Chevènement in
Territoire-de-Belfort, seat he had lost in 2002 to the
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He failed to win back his seat, but
Christian Hutin, a
left-wing Gaullist, was elected in the
Nord département. The party has one Senator, Chevènement, who sits in the
European Democratic and Social Rally (RDSE) group, which is the more
pro-European group. In the
2009 and the
2014 European Parliament elections, the party did not run or support any list. Negotiations with the Socialist Party and the new
Left Front failed. The party instead asked its supporters to boycott the elections. In October 2018, PS MEP
Emmanuel Maurel and senator
Marie-Noëlle Lienemann announced that they would leave the Socialists to ally with the MRC in a new party called
Gauche républicaine et socialiste (GRS). On 12 November 2018, a group presided over by
Jean-Marie Alexandre announced the reconstitution of the MDC as a party. ==Ideology==