The Republicans (France)
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|
The Republicans Les Républicains | |
---|---|
President | Jean Leonetti (interim) |
General Secretary | Annie Genevard |
Vice Presidents | Jean Leonetti Guillaume Peltier Damien Abad |
Spokesman in the Assembly | Christian Jacob |
Spokesman in the Senate | Bruno Retailleau |
Founder | Nicolas Sarkozy |
Founded | 30 May 2015 |
Preceded by | UMP |
Headquarters | Rue de Vaugirard N. 238, 75015 Paris |
Youth wing | Les Jeunes Républicains ("The Young Republicans") |
Membership (2017) | 234,556 (2017)[1] |
Ideology | Conservatism[2][3][4][5] Liberal conservatism[6] Christian democracy[4] Gaullism[4][6][7][8] |
Political position | Centre-right[9][10][11] |
European affiliation | European People's Party |
International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International International Democrat Union |
European Parliament group | European People's Party[12] |
Colours | Blue, White, Red (French Tricolore) |
National Assembly | 99 / 577 |
Senate | 130 / 348 |
European Parliament | 7 / 74 |
Presidency of Regional Councils | 5 / 17 |
Presidency of Departmental Councils | 43 / 101 |
Website | |
www | |
The Republicans (French: Les Républicains; LR) is a centre-right, Gaullist, conservative political party in France.
The party was formed on 30 May 2015 by renaming the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, which had been founded in 2002 under the leadership of former President of France Jacques Chirac.[13][14] The party used to be one of the two major political parties in the French Fifth Republic along with the centre-left Socialist Party (PS), and, following the 2017 legislative election, it remains the second largest party in the National Assembly (behind President Macron's REM). LR is a member of the European People's Party,[15] the Centrist Democrat International,[16] and the International Democrat Union.[17]
Contents
History[edit]
UMP name change[edit]
After the election in November 2014 of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 to 2012, as president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Sarkozy put forward a request to the party's general committee to change its name to Les Républicains ("The Republicans") and alter the statutes of the party. With the name already chosen, vice-president of the UMP Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet presented Sarkozy and the party's political bureau the proposed new statutes. The proposed statutes provided for, among other provisions, the election of the presidents of the departmental federations by direct democracy, the end of the political currents and consulting members on election nominations.[18]
Critics of the name change claimed it was "illegal" for Sarkozy to name the party "Republicans", because every French person is a republican if they support the values and ideals of the French Republic that emanated from the French Revolution, and as such the term is above party politics.[19] The new name was adopted by the party bureau on 5 May 2015 and approved by the party membership on 28 May by an online "yes" vote of 83.3% on a 45.7% turnout after a court ruling in favour of Sarkozy.[20] The new party statutes were adopted by 96.3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94.8%.[citation needed]
Founding congress[edit]
The change to the name "The Republicans" was confirmed at the party's founding congress on 30 May 2015 at the Paris Event Centre in Paris, attended by 10,000 activists.[21] Angela Merkel, chairwoman of the centre-right CDU, sent a congratulatory message to the congress. The Republicans thus became the legal successor of the UMP and the leading centre-right party in France.[22]
The organisation has been declared in the préfecture de Saône-et-Loire on 9 April 2015.[23] According to the statement of this declaration, its aim is to "promote ideas of the right and centre, open to every people who wish to be member and debate in the spirit of a political party with republican ideas in France or outside France".[citation needed] This party foundation was published in the Journal officiel de la République française on 25 April 2015.[24]
Since 2016[edit]
On 3 July 2016, Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would resign as leader that year in order to compete to be the right-wing candidate in the 2017 presidential election.[25]
After winning the party's presidential primary, François Fillon suffered a historic defeat in the first round of the presidential election, with the candidate of the right failing to continue to the second round for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic amid "Penelopegate".[26] In the second round of the legislative elections in June, The Republicans and its allies suffered further losses, losing nearly a hundred deputies, which represented its worst ever performance.[27]
After Emmanuel Macron was elected as president, he appointed three right-wing politicians in his government, namely Édouard Philippe as Prime Minister, Bruno Le Maire as French Ministry for the Economy and Finance, and Gérald Darmanin as Minister of Public Action and Accounts. As a consequence, a parliamentary group including LR dissidents supportive of the government line, "The Constructives", was formed in the National Assembly, separate from the existing group.[28]
On 11 July, the political bureau of The Republicans agreed to hold a leadership election for president of the party on 10 and 17 December;[29] Laurent Wauquiez was elected in a single round on 10 December.[30]
On 2 June 2019, a week after overseeing the worst result for the right in its history in the European elections with 8.48% of the vote, Wauquiez announced his resignation as president of The Republicans.[31]
Leadership[edit]
President[edit]
No. | Name | Photo | Began | Left |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicolas Sarkozy | 30 May 2015 | 23 August 2016 | |
- | Laurent Wauquiez | 23 August 2016 | 29 November 2016 | |
vacant from 29 November 2016 to 10 December 2017 | ||||
2 | Laurent Wauquiez | 10 December 2017 | 2 June 2019 | |
- | Jean Leonetti | 2 June 2019 |
Vice President[edit]
No. | Name | Photo | Began | Left |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet | 30 May 2015 | 15 December 2015 | |
2 | Laurent Wauquiez | 15 December 2015 | 23 August 2016 | |
29 November 2016 | 10 December 2017 | |||
3 | Virginie Calmels | 10 December 2017 | Incumbent | |
Guillaume Peltier | ||||
Damien Abad |
Secretary general[edit]
No. | Name | Photo | Began | Left |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bernard Accoyer | 29 November 2016 | 13 December 2017 | |
2 | Annie Genevard | 13 December 2017 | Incumbent |
Election results[edit]
Presidential elections[edit]
Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | ||
2017 | François Fillon | 7,212,995 | 20.01 | 3rd |
Legislative elections[edit]
Election year | 1st round | 2nd round | Seats | +/− | Rank (seats) |
Government | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||
2017 | 3,573,427 | 15.77 | 4,040,203 | 22.23 | 112 / 577
|
82 | 2nd | Opposition |
European Parliament[edit]
Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1,920,407 | 8.48 | 7 / 79
|
13 |
See also[edit]
- Politics of France
- List of political parties in France
- The Republicans group (National Assembly)
- The Republicans group (Senate)
References[edit]
- ^ "Présidence des Républicains: à 17 heures, la participation a de quoi satisfaire Laurent Wauquiez". huffingtonpost.fr (in French). 10 December 2017.
- ^ Politics (2015-06-02). "Hollande and Sarkozy are battling for the French Presidency — but France doesn't want either of them - Business Insider". Uk.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ Noack, Rick. "The 'Republican Party' is coming to France". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ a b c "Sarkozy apela a las esencias republicanas para reconquistar el poder". ABC. Spain. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ Lichfield, John (27 March 2019). "France's new two-party system: Center vs. Extreme". POLITICO.
- ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "France". Parties and Elections in Europe.
- ^ "L'UMP devient "Les Républicains" / France Inter". Franceinter.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ ""Les Républicains" : comment Sarkozy veut dépasser la logique de parti". Les Échos. France. 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ Parrot, Clément (12 June 2017). "Législatives : les cinq raisons de la bérézina de la droite". France Info. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ Malosse, Diane (12 May 2017). "Droite : ces Républicains qui ne veulent pas se mettre en marche !". Le Point. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ Faye, Olivier (7 November 2017). "Les Républicains tentent la synthèse". Le Monde. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ^ "france | EPP Group in the European Parliament". Eppgroup.eu. 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ Bolton, Doug (30 May 2015). "Nicolas Sarkozy changes UMP party's name to The Republicans ahead of political comeback". The Independent. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
- ^ "France's UMP party changes name to The Republicans, boosting Sarkozy". Reuters Editorial. 2015-05-29. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ "EPP - European People's Party - Member Parties". 50.8398374;4.3671204: European People's Party. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ "Partidos Archivo". idc-cdi. 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ "International Democrat Union » Member Parties". Idu.org. 2015-10-27. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2015-12-06.
- ^ Béraud, Anne-Laëtitia (14 April 2015). "L'UMP se dote des statuts du nouveau parti baptisé «Les Républicains". 20 Minutes. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (26 May 2015). "France: judges clear way for Sarkozy to rename UMP party Les Républicains". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
- ^ Pauline Théveniaud (avec Olivier Beaumont), Congrès des «Républicains» : «Un jour de renaissance», pour Sarkozy Le Parisien, 30 mai 2015
- ^ Alexandre Lemarié et Matthieu Goar, Sarkozy met les Républicains en ordre de bataille pour 2017 Le Monde, 30 mai 2015
- ^ AFP (29 May 2015). "France's Sarkozy renames UMP party 'The Republicans'". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
- ^ "Official journal" (PDF). www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr. 2015.
- ^ No d'annonce : 1214 Paru le : 25/04/2015 Association : LES REPUBLICAINS. Identification R.N.A. : W715002794 No de parution : 20150017 Département (Région) : Saône-et-Loire (Bourgogne) Lieu parution : Déclaration à la préfecture de Saône-et-Loire. Type d'annonce : ASSOCIATION/CREATION
- ^ "Nicolas Sarkozy confirms return bid for French presidency". The Guardian. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ^ Olivier Beaumont (24 April 2017). "VIDEO. Une défaite historique pour François Fillon". Le Parisien. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Marion Mourgue (18 June 2017). "Législatives : un revers historique pour Les Républicains". Le Figaro. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Paul Chaulet (20 June 2017). "L'avenir incertain des députés LR "constructifs" à l'Assemblée nationale". L'Express. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "Les Républicains éliront leur nouveau président en décembre 2017". RTL. Agence France-Presse. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Matthieu Goar (10 December 2017). "Laurent Wauquiez prend la tête du parti Les Républicains". Le Monde. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- ^ "Laurent Wauquiez démissionne de la présidence des Républicains". Le Figaro. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.