Wauquiez, Le Pen, and the crisis of the French right
Laurent Wauquiez was elected leader of The Republicans (Les Républicains, LR) on 10 December, by a wide margin (74.6 percent) in the first round of voting. The low voter turnout (42 percent of paying members) shows that the stakes were limited: the new shift to the right had already been acknowledged by the party’s rank and file.