François Fillon in the context of "2017 French presidential election"

The Republicans (French: Les Républicains [le ʁepyblikɛ̃], LR) is a liberal-conservative political party in France, largely inspired by the tradition of Gaullism. The party was formed in 2015 as the refoundation of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which had been established in 2002 under the leadership of the then-president of France, Jacques Chirac. LR is a member of the Centrist Democrat International and the European People's Party, and sits in the European People's Party Group in the European Parliament.

The UMP used to be one of the two major political parties in the Fifth Republic, along with the centre-left Socialist Party, before being eclipsed by the National Rally and Renaissance. The LR candidate in the 2017 presidential election, former Prime Minister François Fillon, placed third in the first round, with 20.0% of the vote. Following the 2017 legislative election, LR became the second-largest party in the National Assembly, behind President Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche! party (later renamed Renaissance). After a disappointing result in the 2019 European Parliament election, party leader Laurent Wauquiez resigned. He was replaced by Christian Jacob, who remained in office until after the 2022 legislative election, which saw LR lose half of its seats, although it became the kingmaker in a hung parliament. One month before, in the 2022 presidential election, LR nominee Valérie Pécresse placed fifth with 4.7% of the vote. Despite those setbacks, LR was still the largest party in the Senate and headed a plurality of regions of France. Éric Ciotti became president of LR after the 2022 leadership election. In the run-up of the 2024 French legislative election Ciotti came out in favour of an electoral alliance with National Rally. This would have reversed the historic cordon sanitaire that the party had regarding the group. Ciotti was soon removed from his position, which led to a leadership crisis. In May 2025, Bruno Retailleau was elected president of the party.

Rachida Dati ([ʁaʃida dati] ; born 27 November 1965) is a French politician, lawyer and magistrate who has served as Minister of Culture since January 2024 in the government of Gabriel Attal, government of Michel Barnier, government of François Bayrou and the first and second governments of Sébastien Lecornu. She previously was Minister of Justice from 2007 to 2009 under Prime Minister François Fillon.

A member of The Republicans (LR), Dati was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2019, representing Île-de-France. She was a spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy during his 2007 presidential campaign; following his victory, he appointed her to the Government.

Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (French pronunciation: [lɔʁɑ̃ timɔte maʁi vokje]; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 following the resignation of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Wauquiez was Secretary of State for European Affairs under the Foreign Minister Alain Juppé; and previously Secretary of State for Employment under the Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment from March 2008 in François Fillon's government. He also was Government Spokesman from June 2007 to March 2008 as Minister of State under the Prime Minister. He was elected as 2nd Vice President of the ORU Fogar at the organisation's General Assembly held in Quito, Ecuador on 16 October 2016.

Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (French pronunciation: [valeʁi pekʁɛs] ; née Roux [ʁu] ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republicans, she previously served as Minister of Higher Education and Research from 2007 to 2011 and Minister of the Budget and Government Spokeswoman from 2011 to 2012 under Prime Minister François Fillon. Pécresse represented the 2nd constituency of Yvelines in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2012 until 2016.

Pécresse was voted as the Republicans' nominee for the 2022 French presidential election, defeating Éric Ciotti in the party primary. She came fifth in the election with 4.8% of the vote, the worst result in the history of her party or its Gaullist predecessors.

Jean-François Copé (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa kɔpe]; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—including Minister of the Budget—at the same time. He also served as the member of the National Assembly for the 6th constituency of Seine-et-Marne and president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly. In November 2010 he became the party's secretary-general. In August 2012 he announced that he would run for the presidency of the UMP, facing the former Prime Minister François Fillon.

On 19 November 2012 he was elected to the presidency of the UMP with 50.03% of votes from its members, defeating Fillon, who asserted his own victory. He resigned from the post on 27 May 2014 following an invoices scandal and poor results for the UMP at the 2014 European elections.