France could have 'Republican' party

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy is campaigning for his party to change its name from the UMP to "the Republicans".

Some 210,000 paid-up members of the right-wing opposition party will be asked to vote on the name change online at the end of May, ahead of a rally in Paris that aims to start the party's campaigning for the next presidential elections.

The proposed name Les Republicains has angered some members of the Socialist party, with MP Annick Lepetit saying: "They do not have the right to monopolise the word 'republican' and use it for political ends."

Sarkozy hopes a name change will improve the party's image and help distance itself from recent episodes of in-fighting.

He will have difficulty convincing some members, with 55% of respondents in a recent survey saying the new name sounded "too American". The cost of the rebrand is estimated at €70,000.