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Les Republicains

The Republicans
Les Républicains
General Secretary Bernard Accoyer
Vice Presidents Laurent Wauquiez
Isabelle Le Callennec
Spokesperson in the Assembly Christian Jacob
Spokesperson in the Senate Bruno Retailleau
Founded May 30, 2015 (2015-05-30)
Preceded by UMP
Headquarters Rue de Vaugirard N. 238,
75015 Paris
Youth wing Les Jeunes Républicains
("The Young Republicans")
Membership  (May 2015) 213,030
Ideology Gaullism
Liberal conservatism
Christian democracy
Political position Centre-right
European affiliation European People's Party
International affiliation Centrist Democrat International
International Democrat Union
European Parliament group European People's Party
Colours                Blue, White, Red (French Tricolore)
National Assembly
199 / 577
Senate
144 / 348
European Parliament
19 / 74
Regional Councils
7 / 13
Departmental Councils
66 / 101
Website
www.republicains.fr

The Republicans (French: Les Républicains; LR) is a centre-right 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. The party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Socialist Party (PS). The Republicans are a member of the European People's Party,Centrist Democrat International, and International Democrat Union.

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 "The Republicans" (Les Républicains) 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 others, the election of the presidents of the departmental federations by direct democracy, the end of the political currents and consulting members on election nominations.

Critics of Sarkozy claimed it was "illegal" for him 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. 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. The new party statutes were adopted by 96.3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94.8%.


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