Editing Union for a Popular Movement (section)

===Name change and dissolution===
After the election of [[Nicolas Sarkozy]], the former [[President of France]] (2007–2012), as president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in November 2014, he put forward a request to the party's general committee to change its name to the Republicans as well as the statutes of the party. With the name already chosen [[Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet]], vice president of the UMP, presented [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] and the party's political bureau a project of new statutes. The proposed statutes provided for, among others, the election of the presidents of the departmental federations by direct suffrage, the end of the political currents and consulting members on election nominations.<ref>{{cite web |language=fr |author1=Anne-Laëtitia Béraud |title=L'UMP se dote des statuts du nouveau parti baptisé "Les Républicains |work=[[20 minutes (France)|20minutes.fr]] |date=14 April 2015 |url=http://www.20minutes.fr/politique/1586487-20150414-ump-dote-statuts-future-formation-republicains |access-date=18 April 2015}}</ref>

Critics of Sarkozy claimed it was illegal for him to name the party "Republicans" because every French person is a republican in that they support the values and ideals of the [[France|French Republic]] that emanated from the [[French Revolution]], and as such the term is above party politics.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/26/france-sarkozy-les-republicains-ump-socialists|title = France: judges clear way for Sarkozy to rename UMP party Les Républicains|date = 26 May 2015|access-date = 1 June 2015|website = [[The Guardian]]|last = Chrisafis|first = Angelique|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150531074927/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/26/france-sarkozy-les-republicains-ump-socialists|archive-date = 31 May 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref> The new name was adopted by the bureau on 5 May 2015 and approved by the party membership on 28 May by an online yes vote of 83.28% on a 45.74% participation after a court ruling in favor of Sarkozy.<ref name="LP3052015">Pauline Théveniaud (avec Olivier Beaumont), [http://m.leparisien.fr/politique/les-republicains-reunis-a-paris-pour-leur-congres-fondateur-30-05-2015-4817071.php Congrès des «Républicains» : «Un jour de renaissance», pour Sarkozy] ''Le Parisien'', 30 mai 2015</ref> Similarly the new party statutes are adopted by 96.34% of voters and the composition of the new party's political bureau by 94.77%.
[[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]] thus became the legal successor of the UMP as the leading centre-right party in France.<ref name="yahoo1"/>