Laurent Wauquiez new leader French conservatives

paris - The French Conservatives move further to the right after their defeat at the presidential election. Members of the party Les Républicains (LR) chose Laurent Wauquiez as new party leader on Sunday. He received 74.6 percent of the votes according to the provisional result.

Wauquiez argues for a clear, right-wing course. He is considered an outspoken critic of President Emmanuel Macron. The conservative accused the 39-year-old president of having too little bond with inhabitants of rural areas and having a too weak security policy. Macron would also be too enthusiastic about further European integration.

'The future of French democracy can not be a centrist swamp in which socialists and supporters of the right cluster together around Macron,' the 42-year-old Wauquiez said earlier. Followers see him as young and dynamic. Critics fear that he will pull the party too far to the right. Over 230,000 LR members were allowed to vote on a new leader via the internet.

The 'Republicans' have been in crisis since their defeat at the presidential election this year. Their candidate, former Prime Minister François Fillon, was already eliminated in the first round.