The Republicans (french: Les Républicains, ; LR) is a
liberal-conservative political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, largely inspired by the
Gaullist
Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...
tradition. It holds
pro-European views. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 from the renaming and refoundation of the
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...
(UMP), which had been established in 2002 under the leadership of then
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
Jacques Chirac.
LR, as previously the UMP, used to be one of the two
major political parties in the
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic (french: Cinquième République) is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged from ...
along with the centre-left
Socialist Party. It is the largest party in the
Senate since 2014. Its candidate in the
2017 presidential election, former Prime Minister
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
, placed third in the first round, with 20% of the vote. Following the
2017 legislative election, LR became the second-largest party in the
National Assembly, behind
President Emmanuel Macron's
La République En Marche! party. After disappointing results in the
2019 European Parliament election, party leader
Laurent Wauquiez resigned. He was replaced by
Christian Jacob, who remained in office until after the
2022 legislative election, which saw LR lose half its seats although it became the kingmaker in a
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
. In the
2022 presidential election, LR nominee
Valérie Pécresse placed fifth with 4.7% of the first-round vote, which was deemed as disappointing.
Eric Ciotti became President of LR after the 2022 leadership election.
LR is a member of the
European People's Party (EPP), the
Centrist Democrat International
The Centrist Democrat International ( es, Internacional Demócrata de Centro) is a Christian-democratic political international. Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian D ...
(CDI) and the
International Democrat Union
The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, ...
(IDU).
History
Origins in the UMP
The UMP's (
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...
) change of party name and of party structure was one of the promises made by Nicolas Sarkozy during his campaign for the UMP Presidency in 2014.
After his election in November 2014, Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 to 2012, put forward the request to the party's general committee to change its name to Les Républicains ("The Republicans") and alter the statutes of the party. The proposed statutes provided for, among other provisions, the election of the presidents of the departmental federations by direct democracy and consulting members on election nominations. Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to change the name of the party in order to showcase the reunification of the different political views, from the social Gaullism of Henri Guaino to the right line of Patrick Buisson, into "one family".
As declared in an interview for the ''Journal du Dimanche'', Sarkozy also wished to change the name in order to be ahead of his adversaries
Alain Juppé and François Fillon (also belonging to the
UMP) for the
2017 presidential elections. This desire for changing the name was not received well by all members of the party. In an interview for BFMTV, Alain Juppé mocked the ex-French President for wanting to change the name of the UMP. Additionally, Gilles Boyer, supporter of Francois Fillon, showed his reluctance regarding the change of name by tweeting, "We are republicans. We are not THE republicans."
This change of name was perceived by some journalists as an attempt to make the public forget the judicial problems linked to the UMP, especially the Bygmalion case, case in which some members of the UMP are suspected to have forged documents over the expenses of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2012 presidential campaign.
Critics of the name change claimed it was unfair 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
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, and as such the term is above party politics.
Left-wing associations and parties and 140 individuals, including 5 having "Républicain" as their last name, sued the UMP.
The court was in favour of the UMP's change in name, stating that the "manifestly unlawful disturbance" and the "imminent damage" alleged by the complainants have not been demonstrated.
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.
[Pauline Théveniaud (avec Olivier Beaumont)]
Congrès des «Républicains» : «Un jour de renaissance», pour Sarkozy
''Le Parisien'', 30 mai 2015
Founding congress
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
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, attended by 10,000 activists.
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
, chairwoman of the
Christian Democratic Union of Germany, 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.
The organisation has been declared in the ''préfecture de
Saône-et-Loire'' on 9 April 2015. 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". This party foundation was published in the ''
Journal officiel de la République française'' on 25 April 2015.
2016 to 2018
On 3 July 2016,
Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would resign as leader that year in order to compete to be the centre-right candidate in the
2017 presidential election.
In order to decide which candidate will represent The Republicans for the 2017 presidential elections, a party's primary was organised in November 2016.
The activists of the movement could choose between 7 candidates: François Fillion, Alain Juppé, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean-François Copé, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Bruno Le Maire and Jean-Frédéric Poisson. François Fillon, with 44,1% of the votes, and Alain Juppé, with 28,6%, were the two candidates qualified for the second round of the election.
François Fillon won the second turn of the election with 66,5% of the votes and was therefore appointed as The Republicans' candidate for the presidential election in 2017.
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
suffered a historic defeat in the first round of the presidential election, as he was the first centre-right candidate in the history of the Fifth Republic who failed to continue to the second round. This led to the victory of Emmanuel Macron, leader of his newly created party ''
La République En Marche!''. François Fillon finished third in the first round of the presidential election with 20,01% of the vote, behind Emmanuel Macron (24,01%) and Marine le Pen (21,30%). This defeat is mainly due to the
Penelopegate scandal, as François Fillon was considered the favourite candidate by the polls before these revelations.
The election victory of Emmanuel Macron in 2017 altered the French political landscape.
After
Emmanuel Macron was elected as president, he appointed three centre-right politicians in his government from The Republicans, namely
Édouard Philippe
Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), Mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 2020 ...
as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Bruno Le Maire
Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician and former diplomat who has served as Minister of the Economy and Finance since 2017 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in 2017 to ...
as
French Minister of the Economy and Finance, and
Gérald Darmanin
Gérald Moussa Darmanin (; born 11 October 1982) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister of the Interior in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Élisabeth Borne since 2020.
A former member of The Republicans (L ...
as
Minister of Public Action and Accounts.
The fact that three ex-members from The Republicans are now part of the government, has allegedly divided the political party based on views of whether or not the republicans should support the incumbent government.
Some members of The Republicans, such as Thierry Solère or
Sébastien Lecornu
Sébastien Lecornu (; born 11 June 1986) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since 20 May 2022.
A member of La République En Marche! (LREM) since he left The ...
, therefore decided to leave the party in order to join
La République En Marche!, the new political party created by Emmanuel Macron.
Other members, like Franck Riester or Fabienne Keller, decided to create a new political party: "
Agir".
Additionally, a parliamentary group including LR dissidents supportive of the government line, "
The Constructives", was formed in the
National Assembly, separate from the
existing group.
A month after the Presidential elections, the legislative elections took place in France. In the second round of the
legislative elections in June, The Republicans won 112 seats in parliament, which is 82 less than the number of seats won by the
UMP in 2012. This result was the worst performance of a major centre-right political party in French history.
On 11 July, the political bureau of The Republicans agreed to hold a
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
for president of the party on 10 and 17 December;
Laurent Wauquiez was elected in a single round on the 10th of December, winning 74.64% of the votes.
Laurent Wauquiez's election for the head of the Party continued to divide The Republicans as 26 elected officials left the party between his election on the 10th of December and the 21st of February 2018.
Since 2019
On 2 June 2019, a week after overseeing the worst result for the centre-right in its history in the
European elections with 8.48% of the vote, Wauquiez announced his resignation as president of The Republicans. On 13 October 2019,
Christian Jacob, former Minister of the
French Civil Service, was
elected Elected may refer to:
* "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973
* ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008
*The Elected, an American indie rock band
See also
*Election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...
as President of the party, taking from interim President
Jean Leonetti.
In the
2020 French Senate election, the Republicans held their majority. In
2021 French regional elections, the party managed to retain all regional presidencies.
In December 2021,
Valérie Pécresse won the
Republican congress
The Republican Congress ( ga, An Chomhdháil Phoblachtach) was an Irish republican and Marxist-Leninist political organisation founded in 1934, when pro-communist republicans left the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by ...
, winning the centre-right to be the Republican candidate in the
2022 French presidential election. She earned 4.8% of the 1st round vote, which was under the 5% reimbursement threshold. Consequently, the party's funding was left in a critical condition and Pécresse launched an appeal, having been in €5 million in party debt. In the
2022 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France were held on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in A ...
, the Republicans lost 56 seats and fell from 2nd to 4th place in terms of seats.
In the 2022 leadership election,
Eric Ciotti was elected with 53.7% of the votes against his main opponent,
Bruno Retailleau
Bruno Daniel Marie Paul Retailleau (; born 20 November 1960) is a French politician who has presided over The Republicans group in the Senate since 2014. He has represented the Vendée department in the Senate since 2004. Retailleau also served ...
, who received 46.3% to become the next leader of the party. He ruled out a formal alliance with Macron's minority government in parliament, although he was open to negotiate a pension reform. Ciotti has largely been described as
right-wing and of belonging in the populist faction of the party.
Ideology
On the political spectrum, the Republicans are positioned on the
centre-right, although the party has some
right-wing factions. They are a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
party,
and they have been also described as
liberal-conservative due to their liberal stances.
Besides this, they also maintain a
Gaullist
Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...
tradition including
Christian democracy.
Overseas territories
In Guadeloupe, the Head of List of The Republicans is
Sonia Petro.
She has also served as the President of the
Federation of Republicans of Guadeloupe.
Leadership
President
Vice president
Secretary-general
Treasurer
Election results
Presidential elections
Legislative elections
European Parliament
See also
*
Politics of France
The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic ...
*
List of political parties in France
*
The Republicans group (National Assembly)
*
The Republicans group (Senate)
References
External links
Official web site of ''Les Républicains''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Republicans, The
2015 establishments in France
International Democrat Union member parties
Member parties of the European People's Party
Liberal conservative parties
Conservative parties in France
Centre-right parties in Europe
Gaullist parties
Political parties established in 2015
Political parties in France
Political parties of the French Fifth Republic