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Sarkozy's UMP political bureau votes in favor of new name Les Republicains

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

The political bureau of the Union for Popular Movement (UMP) approved Tuesday former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal to change the name of the party to Les Republicains (the Republicans).

During a meeting of the political bureau of the UMP, 50 out of 51 members voted in favor of the new name Les Republicains.

"The change of habits always raises concerns. I thought a lot about this issue. The Republicans carries a promise and embodies our political line," UMP president Sarkozy told Le Figaro in an interview.

Following a series of scandals, especially Sarkozy's charges of corruption and the leadership battle for the president within the UMP, the name change of the UMP is seen as Sarkozy's attempt to renew the image of his party before 2017 presidential elections.

However, according to a poll of Odoxa conducted on April 16 and 17, 66 percent of the 1,003 respondents believed that the new name was "too American".

Facing critics from within his party, Sarkozy invited some 210,000 members of the UMP to vote electronically on May 28 and 29 to express their opinions on the new name. Endit