Question: What is the main conservative party in France?

The Republicans (France)




The Republicans (French: Les Républicains; LR) is a centre-right, Gaullist and 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.[16][17] 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,[18] the Centrist Democrat International,[19] and the International Democrat Union.[20]
History
UMP name change
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 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.[21]
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.[22] 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.[23] The new party statutes were adopted by 96.3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94.8%.
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, attended by 10,000 activists.[24] 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.[25]
The organisation has been declared in the préfecture de Saône-et-Loire on 9 April 2015.[26] 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.[27]
2017 presidential election
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.[28]
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".[29] 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.[30]
After Emmanuel Macron was elected as president, he appointed three right-wing politicians in his government – 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.[31]
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;[32] Laurent Wauquiez was elected in a single round on 10 December.[33]
Leadership
President

Vice President

Secretary general

Election results
Presidential elections

Legislative elections

See also

Politics of France
List of political parties in France
The Republicans group (National Assembly)
The Republicans group (Senate)