Editing Union for a Popular Movement (section)

===Nicolas Sarkozy (2004–2012)===
Juppé resigned the party's presidency on 15 July 2004 after being found guilty in a [[political corruption|corruption scandal]] in January of the same year. Nicolas Sarkozy rapidly announced that he would take over the presidency of the UMP and resign his position as [[Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (France)|finance minister]], ending months of speculation. On 28 November 2004, Sarkozy was elected to the party's presidency with 85.09% of the votes against 9.1% for Dupont-Aignan and 5.82% for [[Christine Boutin]], the leader of the [[Forum of Social Republicans|UMP's social conservatives]].<ref name="ump-history"/><ref>{{cite web|author=e-TF1|url=http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/france/2004/0,,3187726,00-sacre-sarkozy-.html|title=Info et Actualité en direct – Toutes les actualités et infos – MYTF1News|publisher=Tf1.lci.fr|language=fr|access-date=30 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023174053/http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/france/2004/0,,3187726,00-sacre-sarkozy-.html|archive-date=23 October 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Having gained control of what had been Chirac's party, Sarkozy focused the party machinery and his energies on the [[2007 French presidential election|2007 presidential election]].

The failure of the [[2005 French European Constitution referendum|referendum on the European Constitution]] on 25 May 2005 led to the fall of the [[Raffarin Government|government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin]] and to the formation of a new cabinet, presided by another UMP politician, [[Dominique de Villepin]]. However, during this time, the UMP under Sarkozy gained a record number of new members and rejuvenated itself in preparation of the 2007 election. On 14 January 2007, Sarkozy was nominated unopposed as the UMP's presidential candidate for the 2007 election.

On the issues, the party under Sarkozy publicly disapproved of [[Turkey]]'s proposed membership in the European Union, which Chirac had previously endorsed several times publicly, and generally took a more right-wing position.

On 22 April 2007, [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] won the plurality of votes in the first round of the [[2007 French presidential election|2007 presidential election]]. On 6 May he faced the Socialist Party candidate [[Ségolène Royal]] in the second round and won, taking 53.06% of the vote. As a consequence, he resigned from the presidency of the UMP on 14 May 2007, two days before becoming President of the French Republic. [[François Fillon]] was appointed prime minister. On 17 June 2007, at a [[2007 French legislative election|2007 legislative election]], the UMP gained a majority in the National Assembly with 313 out of 577 seats.

Following Sarkozy's election to the presidency, interim leader [[Jean-Claude Gaudin]] prevented a leadership struggle between [[Patrick Devedjian]] and [[Jean-Pierre Raffarin]] by announcing that the UMP should have a collegial leadership while Sarkozy was President of the Republic.<ref>[https://archive.today/20070521032939/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/quotidien/actu.asp?id=12318 Devedjian-Raffarin: une direction à deux têtes pour l'UMP], ''[[L'Express]]'', 26 June 2007</ref> In July, the UMP's national council approved an amendment to the party's statute allowing for a collegial leadership around three vice-presidents (Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Jean-Claude Gaudin and [[Pierre Méhaignerie]]) and a secretary-general ([[Patrick Devedjian]]) and two associate secretaries-general.

On 9 March 2008, [[2008 French municipal elections|municipal]] and [[2008 French cantonal elections|cantonal]] elections, the party performed quite poorly, losing numerous cities, such as [[Toulouse]] and [[Strasbourg]], as well as eight departmental presidencies to the left. [[Xavier Bertrand]] was selected as secretary-general of the party in late 2008 to replace [[Patrick Devedjian]], who resigned to take up a cabinet position.<ref>[http://www.lalibre.be/actu/international/article/477212/xavier-bertrand-elu-secretaire-general-de-l-ump.html Xavier Bertrand, Secrétaire Général de l’UMP] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611095628/http://www.lalibre.be/actu/international/article/477212/xavier-bertrand-elu-secretaire-general-de-l-ump.html |date=11 June 2011 }}, ''[[La Libre Belgique]]'' 8 December 2008</ref>

In the [[2009 European Parliament election in France|2009 European Parliament election]] on 7 June 2009, the UMP ran common lists with its junior allies including [[Jean-Louis Borloo]]'s [[Radical Party (France)|Radical Party]], the [[New Centre]] and [[Modern Left]]. The UMP list won 27.9%, a remarkably good result for a governing party in off-year "mid-term" elections, and elected 29 MEPs, significantly improving on the UMP's poor result in the 2004 European election – also an off-year election. However, in the [[2010 French regional elections|2010 regional elections]] on 14 and 21 March 2010, the UMP obtained a very poor result with only 26%. While it lost Corsica, it retained Alsace but also defeated the left in ''[[La Réunion]]'' and [[French Guiana]].

In a cabinet reshuffle in November 2010, which disappointed centrists within and outside the UMP, François Fillon was confirmed prime minister and [[Alain Juppé]] re-joined the government. Among those who resigned from the cabinet were [[Bernard Kouchner]], [[Hervé Morin]] and, above all, [[Jean-Louis Borloo]]. Xavier Bertrand, who re-joined the government, was replaced as general-secretary of the UMP by [[Jean-François Copé]] on 17 November 2010.<ref>{{cite web|author=lefigaro.fr|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/11/14/01002-20101114ARTFIG00213-remaniement-le-gouvernement-fillon-iii-ancre-a-droite-pour-2012.php|title=Le Figaro – Politique : Remaniement : le gouvernement Fillon III ancré à droite pour 2012|work=Le Figaro|date=14 November 2010 |location=France|access-date=21 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303012108/http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/11/14/01002-20101114ARTFIG00213-remaniement-le-gouvernement-fillon-iii-ancre-a-droite-pour-2012.php|archive-date=3 March 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=lefigaro.fr|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/11/15/01002-20101115ARTFIG00554-borloo-et-morin-sonnent-la-revolte-des-centristes.php|title=Le Figaro – Politique : Borloo et Morin sonnent la révolte des centristes|work=Le Figaro|location=France|date=16 November 2010|access-date=21 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123123541/http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/11/15/01002-20101115ARTFIG00554-borloo-et-morin-sonnent-la-revolte-des-centristes.php|archive-date=23 January 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The party suffered another major electoral defeat in the [[2011 French cantonal elections|2011 cantonal elections]] held on 20 and 27 March 2011, and in September, the centre-right lost control of the [[French Senate]] for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic.

In May 2011, during a party congress, the Radical Party, led by Borloo, decided to leave the UMP and launch [[The Alliance (France)|The Alliance]], a new [[centrism|centrist]] coalition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualite/politique/20110514.OBS3117/le-parti-radical-vote-son-independance-vis-a-vis-de-l-ump.html/ |title=Le Parti radical vote son indépendance vis-à-vis de l'UMP |publisher=Le Nouvel Observateur |language=fr |date=14 May 2011 |access-date=30 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517103319/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualite/politique/20110514.OBS3117/le-parti-radical-vote-son-independance-vis-a-vis-de-l-ump.html/ |archive-date=17 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.germain-isern.com/2011/05/maurice-leroy-croit-en-une-grande.html |title=Germain Isern: Maurice Leroy croit en une grande Confédération des centres |access-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516121628/http://www.germain-isern.com/2011/05/maurice-leroy-croit-en-une-grande.html |archive-date=16 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>http://www.partiradical.net/images/stories/evenement/invitationlancementdelalliance.pdf{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The party opted not to organise primaries ahead of the [[2012 French presidential election|2012 presidential election]]<ref>[http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/election-presidentielle-2012/20111103.OBS3692/primaire-ump-fillon-et-bertrand-changent-de-pied.html Primaire UMP : Fillon et Bertrand changent de pied] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030064143/http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/election-presidentielle-2012/20111103.OBS3692/primaire-ump-fillon-et-bertrand-changent-de-pied.html |date=30 October 2014 }} ''NouvelObs'', 3 November 2011</ref> and endorsed [[Nicolas Sarkozy]]'s bid for second term. Sarkozy lost reelection to the Socialist Party candidate [[François Hollande]] on 6 May 2012, winning 48.36% in the runoff. The party was defeated by the new president's left-wing majority in the subsequent [[2012 French legislative election|legislative election]].