Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, La République en Marche, is changing its name to Renaissance as the French president attempts to win a ruling majority in parliament for his second term in office, reports The Guardian.
The party’s rebranding was announced just as campaigning was due to begin for June’s parliamentary elections. Macron is hoping to secure a parliamentary majority against competition from a new alliance of leftwing parties led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is seeking to increase its small number of seats.
The name Renaissance meant “always choosing enlightenment over obscurantism”, its secretary general, Stanislas Guérini, told a press conference in Paris. Macron’s grouping had previously used the name Renaissance during its European election campaign in 2019.
“Political parties have to reinvent themselves in order to continue to exist,” Guérini said, in a barbed reference to the poor presidential showing of the two former parties of government, the Socialists and Les Républicains, whose candidates Anne Hidalgo and Valérie Pécresse had a combined score of less than 7% in the presidential election last month, in which Macron beat the far-right Le Pen in the final.
The name change was also intended to help Macron’s party gain ground in local government, which it has failed to do over the past five years. “It will be a party of the people, open to citizens,” Guérini said, saying all expertise was welcome, particularly from local elected officials who could join.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.