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Although a most active protagonist in the first round of the 2004 French local elections, UDF saw its influence steadily fade. Obviously, this political party successfully came out of the elections, but only because its status on the French political scene underwent changes over the last few years : it moved from the status of member of the politically dominant “bipolar quadrille” – particularly in the 1980s – to the one of a minor party engaged in the competition for command facing the difficulties related to a centrist strategy. This article draws on the actual status of the UDF to analyse the more global French partisan system. The author emphasises the characteristics of French political competition, fundamentally multipartite, in spite of the effective predominance of two main parties.