French President Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche party has changed its name to Renaissance, the party’s executive officer announced Thursday, Trend reports citing Politico.
“Today we are initiating a movement to rebuild La République en Marche in order to continue expanding this political movement … in a political party that will carry the name of the Renaissance,” said Stanislas Guerini at a press conference in Paris.
Flanked by former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe — founder of the center-right Horizons party — and centrist MoDem party leader François Bayrou, Guerini announced an electoral coalition between the three parties in the run-up to the French parliamentary election next month. Renaissance will field 400 candidates, he added.
The reasoning behind the choice of name, Guerini said, was to show the party would “always make the choice of enlightenment against obscurantism.” It will be “open to citizens, elected officials, local elected officials wherever they come from,” he added. It was also the name given to the Macron’s party list in the 2019 European election.
France will hold a parliamentary election this summer to elect all 577 deputies in its lower house of parliament, following Macron’s reelection as president in April.