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Macron Names Prime Minister

Macron Names Prime Minister
Macron Names Prime Minister

On his first full day in office, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed a conservative lawmaker, Edouard Philippe, as his prime minister.

"The president of the republic has appointed Edouard Philippe as prime minister", Alexis Kohler, the newly-appointed Elysee secretary-general, told a very brief news conference on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The move is seen as a bid to draw in leading figures from the conservative opposition to Macron’s La Republique En Marche (Republic on the Move) group ahead of crucial legislative elections next month.

La Republique En Marche needs to win 290 seats to secure a majority. The movement has already revealed a list of 428 candidates, many of whom who have never held elected office before.

The two-round legislative elections are scheduled to take place on June 11 and June 18, and will elect 577 members of the National Assembly, France’s lower and more powerful house of parliament.

Philippe is close to former presidential candidate Alain Juppe. He accompanied Juppe in the creation of the UMP party (now The Republicans) and served as the party’s director of services until 2004. Philippe was also member of Juppe’s Cabinet at the Ministry of Ecology in 2007.

After conservative hopeful Francois Fillon lost the first round of the presidential election in April, the Le Havre mayor urged his supporters to back Macron.

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