Political Defeats
With only 117 seats, the RPF had little influence on decision making in the new Assembly. In 1952, 27 deputies voted in favor of Antoine Pinay's government before being excluded. Later, 45 other deputies left the Gaullist party. Following the loss of numerous cities (Marseille, Lille) in the 1953 municipal elections, the party's decline started. Many people blamed its defeats on the authoritarian handling by party leadership. De Gaulle asked to the Gaullist deputies to abandon the name "RPF", then in June 1953, 5 Gaullist deputies joined Joseph Laniel's government. In 1954, the vote of Gaullists and Communists lead to the defeat of the European Defence Community treaty.
On 13 September 1955 the party was officially dissolved. The Gaullist deputies founded the National Centre of Social Republicans without the backing of De Gaulle. Most would go on to form the Union for the New Republic and help in the creation of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
Read more about this topic: Rally Of The French People
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